Mephisto Genetics Samsquanch x FS in 10 gal SWP

[MIAutomatic]

I wanted to get a grow journal going with this plant, but I didn’t get my act together and forgot to take any early pics.

Long time photo grower on my 5th auto cycle, only growing Mephisto so far. I did 2 rounds of Skywalker and 2 rounds of Double grape. With the second round of double grape I have things pretty well dialed in, and so far this SS x FS is doing extremely well. I found getting the optimal start a little more challenging with auto, partly because I was used to working mostly with clones in the past with photos. No adding an extra week or two of veg if things get a little off the rails with an auto.

I usually have 3-4 plants in 3 or 5 gallon pots in my 3 ft x 3 ft tents. I have a 10 gallon self watering planter I have been wanting to try out and the SS x FS should be a bigger plant so I though I would give it a try. It’s a similar design to the Earthbox.

Gardener's Victory Self-Watering Patio Planter | Gardener's Supply

Although we designed it for tomato-growing success, we discovered our newest self-watering planter is actually awesome for flowers and trailing vines too.

www.gardeners.com

I am also trying out some new nutrients, using Growdots with Recharge, medium dose - 10 grams per gallon/100 grams total, adding recharge about once a week. Also supplementing with Canna Bio Rhizo and will add Canna Bio Boost once flowering starts.

Medium is Canna Coco 50% and Grow it! Coco Croutons 50%. In the past I used the expanded clay pellets with coco or peat, but I think the coco croutons are a big improvement. They are lighter and also hold a little bit of water while still keeping lots of air in the soil. It’s hard to say for sure but I feel like I am getting better root development than with the expanded clay pellets. Using this mix for my medium I find it’s basically impossible to over water even seedlings. Also added light doses of EWC, greensand and Mycos.

Light is Sun System 315 CMH with Philips 4200k bulb. I will switch to the 3100k after stretch is finished. I keep airflow high and place my light about 15 inches from the canopy. This gives me a PPFD of 750-850, and with 24 hours of light a DLI between 60-70. There have been no issues with light stress and overall growth has been impressive. I use to keep my lights a bit further away 18-24 inches, but after watching this video by Dr. Bruce Bugbee it made me rethink what I thought I knew about lights.



Soaked seed in a cup of RO water till I saw her crack open, about 36 hours then straight into the 10 gallon pot and sprouted within 24 hours. Plant took off fast and has never slowed down. Hand watered RO with 200ppm calmag and 10ml/gal Canna Bio Rhizo using recharge about once a week. Topped at day 15 above the 5th node. Placed plant on reservoir on day 20 and filled with RO with 200ppm calmag.

Here she is at day 22:

I would call it an almost perfect start! So far I am super happy with the grow dots. I plan on pulling it off the reservoir every couple weeks to check runoff PPM and PH so I can get a better feel for how the Growdots release their nutrients and effect the PH of the medium.

And here she just a few days later on day 25 after some light defoliation and LST:

Showing pre-flowers but still in veg, if I can get one more week before she flips, I think she will end up mostly filling the tent. If I can follow through on this post, maybe I’ll get a proper grow journal started for an upcoming cycle.

Happy Growing!

 

[Need4Weed]

Great job getting through veg without a hiccup! I also love to see photo growers trying & having success with autos. There's so many that are too closed minded to see the upside. I'm going to pull up a chair and try to learn a trick or two!

I watched this video recently and it's an excellent source for lighting info. I'm all the time watching grow videos and I recently had some trouble with my seedlings. I added light without measuring ppfds for added heat a couple months ago, and stunted my girls somewhat. I can't really afford an expensive ppfd meter, but I downloaded an app on my phone that's close enough to do the job! Having the app allowed my grow to recover & 2 of the 3 are looking like the best plants I've ever grown. The other girl was a little order and didn't have time to recover, but she'll easily pull 4 zips.

These Coco Croutons sound very interesting! I'm going to try to google it and see what I can learn! Btw, Good luck with the rest of your grow!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Your plants will be better quality with a night time.

 

[MIAutomatic]

Your plants will be better quality with a night time.

I don’t really want to get into a debate about light cycle. I have never seen anything beyond opinion that suggests plants need dark for healthy growth as long as all of the other conditions are ideal. I played around with 20/4 and 18/6 for my first couple cycles with autos. Starting with my third auto grow I switched to 24 hours and as far as I can tell plants just grew faster. No loss of terpenoids ( as far as I can tell), no heat or light stress, buds were fatter and I harvested earlier by about 5 days than 18/6.

I do believe there is something to color shifting your lights, more blue for veg, more red for flower, and I actually go back to the blue light for the last week or so. I am not sure yet if shifting back to blue has much of an impact on ripening, but they do seem slightly frostier and stinkier since I started finishing with the 4200k light.

I think Man O Green gives some of the most reliable advice on this site, but we may have to disagree on this point. Or who knows, maybe a year from now I’ll be growing on 20/4, I am always willing to change my mind in light of new information.

 

[MIAutomatic]

Great job getting through veg without a hiccup! I also love to see photo growers trying & having success with autos. There's so many that are too closed minded to see the upside. I'm going to pull up a chair and try to learn a trick or two!

I watched this video recently and it's an excellent source for lighting info. I'm all the time watching grow videos and I recently had some trouble with my seedlings. I added light without measuring ppfds for added heat a couple months ago, and stunted my girls somewhat. I can't really afford an expensive ppfd meter, but I downloaded an app on my phone that's close enough to do the job! Having the app allowed my grow to recover & 2 of the 3 are looking like the best plants I've ever grown. The other girl was a little order and didn't have time to recover, but she'll easily pull 4 zips.

These Coco Croutons sound very interesting! I'm going to try to google it and see what I can learn! Btw, Good luck with the rest of your grow!

Is the app you are using Photone? I am using it and find it very useful and pretty accurate. My light configuration is very common so it’s easy to find par data online, and the numbers in the app line right up with my expectations based on the available data.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I don’t really want to get into a debate about light cycle. I have never seen anything beyond opinion that suggests plants need dark for healthy growth as long as all of the other conditions are ideal. I played around with 20/4 and 18/6 for my first couple cycles with autos. Starting with my third auto grow I switched to 24 hours and as far as I can tell plants just grew faster. No loss of terpenoids ( as far as I can tell), no heat or light stress, buds were fatter and I harvested earlier by about 5 days than 18/6.

I do believe there is something to color shifting your lights, more blue for veg, more red for flower, and I actually go back to the blue light for the last week or so. I am not sure yet if shifting back to blue has much of an impact on ripening, but they do seem slightly frostier and stinkier since I started finishing with the 4200k light.

I think Man O Green gives some of the most reliable advice on this site, but we may have to disagree on this point. Or who knows, maybe a year from now I’ll be growing on 20/4, I am always willing to change my mind in light of new information.

Because autos cannot be cloned it is impossible to do a standardized test for light schedules. That being said there is scientific evidence that cannabis needs a night time. The best explanation in terms easy to understand come from this plant scientist.



My personal experience is that my quality is the best at 18/6. It saves money on power as well.

 

[MIAutomatic]

Because autos cannot be cloned it is impossible to do a standardized test for light schedules. That being said there is scientific evidence that cannabis needs a night time. The best explanation in terms easy to understand come from this plant scientist.



My personal experience is that my quality is the best at 18/6. It saves money on power as well.

I have seen this video multiple times. She offers no actual data or references any study. She is just sharing a speculative opinion. I also think the first thing out of her mouth is something I have heard lots of people say, “plants are like people and they need a rest period” or something to that effect.

Plants are actually not like people at all, or any animal for that matter, and it has been my experience that if all other environmental factors are dialed in to a near perfect range that a cannabis plant is capable of robust and healthy growth on a 24 hour light cycle.

When I used to grow photos I went through this same process of discovery for the veg phase and also came to the conclusion that a 24 hour veg cycles lead to the fastest growth if all other factors were ideal.

I have never seen a single piece of actual data, not just opinion, that suggests a plant needs to sleep. Again, I think we will have to agree to disagree on this point.

 

[420autoflower]

Because autos cannot be cloned it is impossible to do a standardized test for light schedules. That being said there is scientific evidence that cannabis needs a night time. The best explanation in terms easy to understand come from this plant scientist.



My personal experience is that my quality is the best at 18/6. It saves money on power as well.

It might be possible to do a test or comparison with auto clones. Bill Ward took a few and they are growing very well.

 

[MIAutomatic]

Ok change of heart - I put her on 20/4 and we’ll see how she responds. This is something I would actually like to be wrong about, and it’s always good to re-evaluate what we think we know from time to time.

It’s certainly possible that I am just not seeing the forest through the trees on this issue. All my environmental factors and nutrients are in good ranges, so maybe I am just not noticing a minor stunt or stress caused by missing a dark period. If I notice any positive change over the next few days I’ll move her to 18/6.

Now maybe we can move away from the wedge issue of light cycles. I hoped that other factors like the relatively new Mephisto cross, the over sized self-watering planter and the Growdots/Recharge would be greater points of interest than my light cycle.

 

[CannabisMingus]

that suggests a plant needs to sleep

I don't believe she says that.