Hi....relatively new grower here...
I'm hoping that someone can help me figure out a problem I've had growing autos.
Specifically, I've grown several autos but despite growing well in veg, the plants effectively 'stopped' mid-flower and did not fully mature. In addition, very little smell which seems to suggest that something was 'wrong' despite appearances. The bud was nowhere near the quality I'd expected although the overall volume of dried bud was good (appx 400g per plant). I've had this issue with several autos - it does not appear to be a one-off. I kept a grow diary with regular photos so can supply further details if required but here are the basic details of my most recent grow:
Strain: Dutch Passion auto White Widow (also had the same issue with Dutch Passion auto orange bud).
Growing environment:
1x1 metre area grow tent with oscillating fan & air extraction unit
11 Litre airpots
Substrate: Canna Coco Pro Plus with appx 30% perlite added.
Nutrients: Canna Coco A & B, Calmag, Rhizotonic, PK 13/14, Boost (all from the Canna range)
Lights: 2 x SF-1000x Spider Farmer LED's (each @ 97 watts power draw) + 1x150watt HPS. Light schedule: 20/4 then 18/6 for the final 4 weeks.
Water: RO water with calmag added to bring typical water ec to 0.4 (target)
Watering schedule: twice daily after veg got underway and then three times daily when in flower. Always watered to at least 30% runoff minimum. Input EC and output EC checked at each watering. When in flower, typically flushed once per week as output EC tended to drift too high suggesting nutrient buildup within the coco. EC typically back within acceptable range (i.e. no more than +0.4 ec compared to input ec) after flush.
Nutrient schedule: broadly in line with Canna recommended schedule. No major issues with leaf burn although a little leaf tip yellowing did occur. In general, I tended to go a little under the suggested Canna 'light' schedule ec values.
Defoliation: minimal. LST: None - essentially left the plants to grow naturally.
Temperature & humidity: typically 20 to 25C. Humidity in tent was usually around 40% during flowering.
Problem description: Flowering started off as expected at approx 8 weeks after germination but did not mature as expected - no amber trichomes even after 17 weeks when I did the final cut. Some leaf yellowing did occur but regular inspection of trichomes suggested that plants were not developing as expected. One theory is that because the plant was relatively large, the nutrients supplied could not support the plant through to full maturity although this is little more than a guess. I got a big volume of bud off the plant (400 gram dry weight) but quality, as stated earlier, was very poor. Would have happily settled for a much lower yield but decent quality!
I researched the requirements for growing autos and am reasonably confident that the overall growing environment was roughly 'correct'. No obvious signs of disease or pests.
Can anybody suggest what my problem is? I'm sure if the growing environment were inherently poor then I would not have managed to grow the plants through veg stage and into flower.
Thanks in anticipation!