BoCoGrow's Roc Bud Inc auto grow update

[BoCoGrow]

Hi folks,

I posted a couple pics before in one of Weedhopper's threads, but thought I would just create a separate thread of my own.

To get you up to speed, I've been growing 2 Roc Bud Inc autos that were freebies, so strains are unknown. Growing in 3 gallon fabric pots with FFOF soil and RO water. FFOF is a heavily amended soil, but I ended up waiting too long to start feeding, so they got stunted, but I'm sticking with the girls. On top of the FFOF I've added about 1.5" of Build-a-Flower top dress kit, and on top of that, a layer of barley straw to keep the top dress kit moist so it doesn't become hydrophobic. I'm in a 4x4 tent running a Growers Choice e680 LED. Here are pics of each of the two plants (at day 37 since sprout):

I'll be making some changes next round:

• I will be using 5 gallon fabric pots if not 7 gallon pots. The plants grew like crazy animals out the gate, but once they hit flower, they seemed to run out of food and looked sad.
• I will be adding the Build-a-Flower top dress around day 15 when the autos start popping pistils rather than waiting another 2 weeks to do so. It takes some time for the top dress nutrients to make their way into the root zone.
• I will not be using Cal-Mag unless it is part of a balanced nutrient feeding. For the first 4 weeks or so, I was using RO water with 5ml of CalMag and 5ml of silica blast, and I believe the CalMag caused a nutrient lockout (leaves were turning yellow, brown spotting, etc., and I hadn't given them any other nutes).

To be honest, I had at one point decided to throw in the towel on these girls once I detected the nutrient lockout. I turned off the lights, heater, humidifiers, etc. and was planning to just go chop and bag them when I had the time. But I decided to go in and take a look, and wow, the leaf color had improved and the bud development was obvious, so I turned everything back on and we're going to ride this out.

 

[WeedHopper]

Pulling up a chair.

 

[ROSTERMAN]

Hey I wanted that chair

 

[pute]

 

[ROSTERMAN]

 

[BoCoGrow]

I'll update this with pics probably every couple of days.

I've been wanting to grow organic, but the plants haven't returned to full health (leaf color is still light or yellow-green), so when they are ready for water again tomorrow, I'm likely going to hit them with a dose of synthetics so they can feed immediately.

Man, a big lesson I'm learning is that autos are hard to grow vs. photos. They grow so fast that if you screw something up, well, you're kinda screwed. It is clear to me that the yield from these two won't be close to their potential, but it does look like whatever I end up with will be good smoke.

 

[BoCoGrow]

OK, well I'll add this one so you can see how the main cola on one of the plants is shaping up

The second pic in my first post is this same plant

 

[BoCoGrow]

Given I'm growing autos, I'm also a member of the Autoflower Network (autoflower.net)...mods, if I'm not supposed to do that, just let me know. A very experienced and knowledgable grower on that forum predicted things would get worse before they got better, and man that was the truth. I was starting to get super worried about the girls. I fed them some Maxibloom at 1/2 the recommended dose (autos can be more sensitive to nutes than photos), but didn't check the PPM, and realized later it was really low (like double digits with my RO water). I fed them plain RO water the next round, and then gave them 3X the recommended dose on the back of the Maxibloom bag, which came in at 327 PPM (the recommended top range for autos is 550 PPM, and that is when they are in late bloom). Got a touch of tip burn on them, so I'll dial it back a bit next time.

I also dialed back the light to 80% intensity (which is still 558W). The plants have stabilized, growth has increased, most of the leaf droop is gone, and the plants are starting to smell (not the green, I'm a young plant smell, but a nice fruity smell for lack of a better description).

Here are pics of one of the plants on day 42 since sprout.

 

[bigBMfan1]

nice work bro , very nice

 

[BoCoGrow]

Well, the plants have been doing well, with noticeable bud development and continued frost. Today, I switched to watering them 1/2 the amount on a daily basis vs. a full amount every other day. The reason is they were drying out too much, to the point where when I started watering, the water immediately starting flowing out the pot.

And today was also the first time where I forgot to PH. If I recall correctly, the last time I fed nutes, the starting PH was around 5. Should I just say "that sucks" and water them with PH'd water tomorrow, or do I need to go in and give them some PH'd water now?

 

[bigBMfan1]

IMO i think leave it till the morning and ph as normal
i cant see 1 feed not phd at this point in your grow to be too much trouble
and definately dont let them dry out IMO
cheers

 

[BoCoGrow]

IMO i think leave it till the morning and ph as normal
i cant see 1 feed not phd at this point in your grow to be too much trouble
and definately dont let them dry out IMO
cheers

Thanks, amigro! Before I got this response, I ended up going back in and gave each plant another 4 cups of PH'd RO water. I was a bit surprised that there was no runoff since I was previously giving each 8 cups every other day and now gave them 8 cups two days in a row. So either what I had thought was a full pot wasn't, or perhaps more likely, what with all the bud and trich development they are drinking a lot more/faster.

 

[bigBMfan1]

Thanks, amigro! Before I got this response, I ended up going back in and gave each plant another 4 cups of PH'd RO water. I was a bit surprised that there was no runoff since I was previously giving each 8 cups every other day and now gave them 8 cups two days in a row. So either what I had thought was a full pot wasn't, or perhaps more likely, what with all the bud and trich development they are drinking a lot more/faster.

i use RO water every day too nro its the only way imo

 

[WeedHopper]

I use tap water that has set for 24 hrs. I mix my ferts then i ph the solution. Never had a problem.
I use my pool kit to test ph. Don't have a pen anymore and haven't missed it at all.

 

[BoCoGrow]

I went into the tent a few minutes ago and they don't look any different than the day before, except for more noticeable bud formation. They are fattening up daily.

 

[BoCoGrow]

They are now taking water everyday without runoff. I'll need to remember next time to increase the watering schedule once they really start ramping up on bud and trichome productions. Definitely getting bigger each day.

 

[ROSTERMAN]

Do not forget to enter Bud of the Month

 

[BoCoGrow]

Do not forget to enter Bud of the Month

When does the window close for the April contest? I didn't see a deadline in your post about it, but might have missed it.

Edit: never mind, went back to your first post in the contest thread and found my answer.

 

[bigBMfan1]

I use tap water that has set for 24 hrs. I mix my ferts then i ph the solution. Never had a problem.
I use my pool kit to test ph. Don't have a pen anymore and haven't missed it at all.

oath mate
pool strips are great once you get used to the right color which does take some getting used too but yea bro i use em

 

[WeedHopper]

I dont use the strips. I use the drops. Never had a problem with the color. I keep it around 6.5 to 6.8. I had a pen before but it was a pain in the ass to keep it calibrated.