Day 1 (germination of M/A)

I enjoyed both these strains, especially the Mexican Airlines, great sativa high!

Just curious why you only half filled the pots rather than using a smaller size? Some kind of training benefit maybe?

I'm guessing you're like me though, ran out of dirt and didn't want to go to the store to get more, lol.

Yes! A friend (also an AFN member) grew & shared the M/A & I really dug it.

You’re right about the partially filled pots. 2 plants were topped twice, & aggressively tied down horizontally, like in Mainlining. Then I bury some of the stem, bringing those horizontal branches closer to the soil / medium. I’m trying other techniques on the other plants.

And yup, I’ve run outa dirt like that too!

6 days for the five Mexican Airlines. Nothing yet from the five Gorilla Cookies. The Gorilla Cookies were planted 1-2 days after the M/Airlines. Soil is Ocean Forest. I know some folks say OF is too hot for seedlings, but I’ve never found it so. I’ve grown photoperiod plants for nine years, but this is only my 2nd Autoflower grow. Daytime temps ~78F, Nightime ~69F, RH 60-ish. The “domes” came off within a day of visible sprout. Co2 800ppm. (1) HLG 600R running 18 hours on, about 25% power.

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8 days for the Mex Air. Moistening the Gorilla Cookies soil daily. Not a lot. First Gorilla Cookie popped.

13 days for all the Mexican Airlines. Around 11 days for one Gorilla Cookies . 4/5 Fastbuds GORILLA Cookies did not pop. I am a sad pup. I was super excited to smoke that fire. I’ve never had a feminized seed fail to pop. Regular seeds, maybe 1/12. On the positive side, I do have one GC & the MA plants look great.

14 days (M/A). Beginning training. My loose plan is to bend (2) M/A over. Top (2) M/A twice & strictly tie down first four main branches. (1) M/A natural, Christmas tree. The anomaly with the Gorilla Cookies has thrown me a bit. Not sure what I’ll do with the Lone Ranger (GC).

19 days. Co2 is now 1200-1300ppm. Still no liquid nutes. Watering with tap water ph’d to ~6.2. Tap water is aged enough to lose the chlorine in my city water, & I oxygenate it. I’ve had to heat the room to get daytime temps to 78-80F. No heat @ night. Also supplemented RH with humidifier to obtain 60RH while young. The HLG has been turned up to 100%, prolly couple days ago.

Oh, btw, smallest plant is the Gorilla Cookies, only because it sprouted well after the M/A. Other plants have been trained as previously described.

22-23 days. All plants looking great. I’m very happy. All are short, with short internodal distance. Technically I’m not after Short, per se, but I am after Flat canopy. The HLG, btw, is brand new to me, and a big investment for which I stretched. I’ve only run HPS, MH & fluorescent til now. This is the inaugural cycle for this light. (I really like it, but more on that another day).

Bad news. Trouble in paradise. I’ve had two-spotted spider mites in the past. After last cycle, I cleaned everything with 20% bleach solution. Mostly new fabric pots & those previously used, I steam bathed for 3 hours. Nothing lived. This grow room is wrapped in (close to) airtight, lightight panda film (generic term).I cut out the old floor & replaced it. Well, I found what looks like two mite eggs on my treasured plants. They’re getting dark, which means close to hatching. I could find no moving critters. No actual mites seen. (I pre-emptively inspect plant leaves after the develop some leaf mass. I now have a modest pest management program).

I have a variety of miticides and inhibitors on hand, so I dunked everybody fully in a Pyganic / Pyrethrum solution. (My usuals are Pyrethrum, Neem, Azamax & some essential oil “natural” stuff I’ll never use again). Turned the light way down - 20-25%. I was pleased with myself for so fully covering the plants. (dunking clones is common).

My plants were not happy. It nearly killed the Lone Ranger. I’ve never had this, but I’ve never so fully covered a mature-ish plant. Also, realized after the fact that instructions on the Pyganic included PH specific, which I had not done. [thought going through my head is “You might be a stoner if......”].

25 days. Everybody’s fighting their way back to health. The Pyganic dip seems to have stripped off the waxy coating on my girls’ leaves. Transpiration has plummeted. I can tell because the dehui isn’t pulling any water from the air. I put the humidifier back in the room to get RH back to 60. Light @ about 70%. (cheaper for me to turn it down than keep it @ 100% & raise it). Forgot to tell y’all I started feeding liquid nutes about a week before this. I use general hydroponics & I feed every watering. In a later update I’ll get specific on the nutes & adjuncts I use. This week everyone got a foliar kelp spray. This is ALWAYS a hit with the girls. Moving forward...

25 days Mex Airlines, around 20 for the Lone Ranger (really, I forget). Co2 is back up to 1200-1300ppm. It’s much cheaper & more convenient for me to burn natural gas than to buy bottled co2. Winter here now so temps not a huge deal. Summer will require more energy spent to run the 4000btu window-mount ac, but way less than last summer with the 1000w HPS! Plants doing well though still don’t have a very waxy surface. Note the heavier Saw pattern on the Lone Ranger’s leaves. I’m always interested in how different strains or phenotypes present. Anyway, I think a few more updates til I’m caught up to “real time.” Hope all y’all are doin well, avoiding the plague.

26 days / 21 Lone Ranger. My room currently has insufficient air flow. (1) 16” oscillating fan on the wall, pointed down past the light to the plants. As soon as I manage to clean a couple box fans, I’ll put them in also. Temps vary widely, are kinda striated. Thus, high 80’s or more near ceiling, 78-79F on the leaf & soil. Ideally, the environmental air should be so well blended & mixed, that there is little variation from 3’ high to 7’ high. This is a result of my whole ventilation system being changed as I migrated from air-cooled HPS to un-vented LED. Future project.

It should be noted that I’m confident that I still have mites. They don’t go away that easy. I am confident that I committed two-spotted mite genocide, & it will take a little time to rebuild the ranks. I had mites on my outdoor Fastbuds GSC last summer. One Azamax treatment was enough for the whole grow.,It was a nice yield & a great smoke. So I’m not going crazy, & I still expect good yield n smoke. Plants (I think) are well developed for age. I’m gonna take a bong rip, be cool & ride out the hiccups.

All the Airlines were pretty bushy. With photos, I defoliate liberally, but I’m reluctant to remove leaves on an autoflower. (Side note: I did top & train some FB Girl Scout Cookies last summer on the patio, & they ALL turned out GREAT).

Back to the moment, I didn’t want it getting to humid under that little canopy, so close to the dirt. I’ve developed a good amount of leaf mass, so I think I can get away with cleaning the canopy up. For those plants tied down I readjusted their bonds. Trimmed off a little bit that would never become anything. Airflow is improved.

These pics are from last Monday (5 days ago)! Almost caught up to “real time” today. We have FLOWERS, & they are stacking! Adjusting liquid nutes accordingly. I started low, but they are taking a full nute load. I mean the very same nutes I give to full sized photoperiod plants. I know I’m pushing it. I tend to do that.

Whoops, forgot to mention I added a light dosage of UV. One reptile fluorescent on each side of the HLG.

Thursday. Two days ago. Leaves are all jazzed, but no tip burns at all. Seeing some canoeing / curling up, which suggests to me that I’m pushing too many nutes, back off a little. I very recently saw a YouTube video (hey, it looked pretty legit!) say that M/A was NOT a heavy feeder. So I think I’ll listen to my plants, & back 20% off the GH nute regimen.
Oh, that nute regimen has recently been: 1.5ml Armor Si per gallon of h2o, 4ml FloraMicro, 1ml FloraGrow, 5ml FloraBloom, 1 ml FloraLicious +, 2 ml Liquid Coolbloom.

Yesterday & today. Fed today. Forgot to reduce nutes. Lone Ranger is lower right plant. All seem to be doing well, little growth spurt & of course, the flowers.