Critical+ 2 autos late into flowering, too much N?

[Fry]

I grew a couple of packs of these a couple of years ago and was very impressed, the plants were quite uniform (as best as can be hoped for with autos) and mostly looked a lot like they do in Dinafem's promo video on youtube, and finished in more or less 65 days too.

 

I've got a pack of them on the go again in my newly built room and the difference really is night and day compared to what I was expecting. We're on day 45 and only 1 of them is looking like I would expect and is coming along nicely in flower, the rest of them are great bloody huge things with 2 of them pushing 160cm, and one of them is the bushiest plant I have ever grown, not quite as tall as the lanky ones but wider than a doorway and it sprawls all over the place. Don't get me wrong I'm not complaining about having huge plants, but they seem to have finished stretching and only started to produce bud in earnest over the last couple of days, so they clearly have a way to go yet. I'm growing some freebie Amnesia XXL autos alongside which say 70+ days on the pack yet they're the smallest plants (though still not small) and will be the quickest to finish except the lone critical ahead of the pack.

 

I came across an interesting comment on the boards, can't find it now, saying that too much N will stop or delay Critical from going into flower, I figured that this would be less relevant with the autos though. I was quite heavy on the veg nutes as they were hungry plants but also because I was reusing soil for half of them. Would this account for only now going into flower at week 6?

 

Sorry I can't post any pics atm, getting a camera tomorrow so will post some up then.

 

Thanks

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 08/07/2018 at 2:14 PM, Fry said:

I came across an interesting comment on the boards, can't find it now, saying that too much N will stop or delay Critical from going into flower, I figured that this would be less relevant with the autos though. I was quite heavy on the veg nutes as they were hungry plants but also because I was reusing soil for half of them. Would this account for only now going into flower at week 6?

 

 

With critical+ both photoperiod and autoflowering versions are known to be very heavy feeding strains so I'm not sure that to much nitrogen early on would prevent this strains from autoflowering. 

 

Now, flowering. This typically does start anywhere from day 21-35 (weeks 3-5) but I have seen autos not starting to bloom until day 40-45 but this is quite rare and more typical from our xxl range due to the longer veg phase to produce those bigger plants. Eben then bloom tylically starts at day 28-35

 

Please keep us posted on this and some pictures would be beneficial then we can assist more

 

I'll keep dropping in to see what's going on my friend 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

Edited July 9, 2018 by Dinafem-Mark

[Fry]

Thanks for your reply @Dinafem-Mark

 

It did seem a tad odd about the N even as I said it. I'll have another look later and see if I can find the thread I was reading the other day.

 

Flowering, honestly I'm starting to wish I'd gone with all Amnesia XXL was hoping to have everything down by the end of the month to make room for photoperiods. It's strange that basically all but 1 critical have turned out like I would have expected from the XXL range and the XXL's have turned out like I would have expected of the critical. Having said that, your timeline does still match up roughly albeit does put us quite on the long side of things for autos, day 47 today and I'm pretty sure they're done with stretching now. I had my last crop of autos down in 60 days so it's quite a difference this run, seems to be taking forever

 

I'll get some pics up later today, I bought a camera yesterday and left it on charge overnight but it still won't power up. Going to have to take it back to the shop and swap it out.

 

[Fry]

Here we go @Dinafem-Mark managed to get some pics at last, not very good ones mind you. Please excuse the date on the timestamps too, need to figure out how to turn them off

 

First off is the big bushy Critical.

 

 

The Critical furthest into flower. A few different shots playing about with the camera settings, it's not a very fancy one

 

 

The tallest of them, not by much though, there is another one perhaps 15cm shorter. That tall branch sticking out on the right is coming from the first node. Oh and the fan is at head height for reference. There's an Amnesia XXL poking in the picture to the right, they're not much bigger than the branch you see there.

 

 

Few Amnesia XXL shots.

 

 

Cheers

 

[Rick Grimes]

They’re looking like they’re going to monsters! Awesome work with them pal!

[Dinafem-Mark]

@Fry Thanks so much for getting some shots up mate now we can see what going on

 

It does look like as you said the critical look more like amnesia xxl and the xxl amnesia look more like the critical. Any chance the seeds could have been mixed up? 

 

If you had just put the shots up and asked me, which were critical and which were amnesia I would have said the total opposite. 

 

Strange, but they look healthy, let's see how this plays out 

 

Thanks for the added pictures my friend 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

Edited July 10, 2018 by Dinafem-Mark

[Fry]

7 hours ago, Rick Grimes said:

They’re looking like they’re going to monsters! Awesome work with them pal!

 

Thanks man. I'd love to know what I've done right with them!

 

5 hours ago, Dinafem-Mark said:

@Fry Thanks so much for getting some shots up mate now we can see what going on

 

It does look like as you said the critical look more like amnesia xxl and the xxl amnesia look more like the critical. Any chance the seeds could have been mixed up? 

 

If you had just put the shots up and asked me, which were critical and which were amnesia I would have said the total opposite. 

 

Strange, but they look healthy, let's see how this plays out 

 

Thanks for the added pictures my friend 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

 

Thanks for the feedback, Mark.

 

It is a bit odd isn't it. To be honest the seeds did get mixed up through veg but I only had 3 Amnesia and I can tell them apart from the Critical's on smell alone by now, can't describe the Amnesia's very well, they have a subtle yet distinct aroma of "babysick". I don't like that term but it's all I know that scent by. The Criticals are much more in your face, they smell very strongly of sweet oranges, it's a beautiful and overpowering smell and has been from quite early on, I'm very much looking forward to tasting them.

 

Like I say I'd love to know what I seem to be doing right with these I've not managed to quite get the nutrients right up until getting into flower, had some calcium lockout in early veg from slightly low root temps, overdid it a bit switching from veg to bloom nutes too, using Mills AB veg and PM bloom, and I ran out of PM root stimulant at the start of this grow so only a few of them ever got any root stim. Also, I didn't have quite enough soil for all of them so they're in about 8L each. And apart from a cold spell early on temps have been pretty much a solid 28-33c at the canopy. Quite minor problems but it's not been a perfect grow by any means.

 

The proof is in the pudding though I guess so we will have to wait and see what the end result is from these XXL Critical's

 

Cheers

 

 

Edited July 10, 2018 by Fry

[Fry]

17 hours ago, Dinafem-Mark said:

Any chance the seeds could have been mixed up? 

 

I've realised that this is actually exactly what has happened! I'm just such a stoner I didn't notice it

 

Was in amongst them looking at them with a fresh set of eyes this morning and with what you said in mind, and there we have it the 3 huge ones are actually the Amnesia XXL's. Had a good feel of what I thought were the Amnesia's buds and low and behold the orange smell came through, it's much more of a weedy smell though. I think it was the fact that a couple of the Critical's have grown pretty huge and they make it look like there is only 3 plants that are of a different smaller strain, and given that they smelled different and there was only 3 Amnesia in there I put it down to that, when really it must be just a different pheno.

 

I'm happy though as it means most of this grow will come down sooner than I was starting to expect, or should do anyway.

 

So there we have it, mystery solved

 

Thanks @Mark!

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Fry

[Dinafem-Mark]

@Fry There we go my friend. Mystery solved

 

Lets see how you get on with these then I would like to sponsor your next Dinafem grow if you would be hot I documenting your Dinafem adventure on UK420? 

 

This will be early August after my vacation 

 

Glad the mystery is solved 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[Fry]

@Dinafem-Mark

 

Thank you, that's a very generous offer that I might just have to take you up on I did kind of give up on doing diaries and lost a lot of enthusiasm for growing in general for a while but this grow has really got me motivated again. I'm on the hunt for a few keepers next and I have no doubt that Dinafem's genetics will be in the final line up.

 

I'll get some more pics of this grow as things progress. I already want a better camera though I'll try and sort some better lighting for future pictures for now, that will hopefully make a difference.

 

Enjoy your break Mark

 

 

[Dinafem-Mark]

@Fry Thanks brother I will do 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[Fry]

Been having a play with the camera and thought I'd pop these in here.

 

 

 

[Fry]

Another update. It's surprising the difference a few days can make, I didn't see a huge difference until I flicked between last weeks pictures and todays and was shocked at how much bigger they look

 

They're getting quite hungry now, one or two Critical's are happy at 2ml PM bloom but the rest are up to 3ml and still want more, the Amnesia's even more so.

 

 

Quite a few orange hairs on this next one, at least 50%, she is still throwing out new pistils though and the buds are nice and dense. Looking on taking her down next weekend, will probably take the tops and leave the bottom half to fully ripen up, see how we look when we get there.

 

 

Last but not least the big Amnesia in the corner. Seems to be getting rather leafy this one, still be some very nice buds by the looks of it though.

 

 

Apologies for seemingly being selective about which plants I choose to photograph, these just happen to be the only photos that didn't come out all blurry though

 

[Dinafem-Mark]

You can see a massive difference in just 7 days those buds are are exploding 

 

@Fry How are things going my friend? 

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[Fry]

@Dinafem-Mark Apologies for the delay in updates, been busy lately.

 

Harvested most of it by now, didn't get many pictures but here's what I found on my SD card along with a shot of some Critical buds that have just dried.

 

Took a couple at 8 weeks and most of it came down around the 9 week mark with just one running into 12 before I chopped her along with the Amnesia XXL's. There's a beautiful orange smelling pheno amongst the critical's, the other pheno is a very difficult smell to put a finger on, it has been described as a cheesecake smell by a couple of friends. It's a lovely smoke anyway. The Amnesia's really surprised me though, the smell is lush, a very pastel citrus flavour, I can't get enough of the smell of it wish I'd done a couple more of them tbh, they were worth the extra wait. Ultimately though I'll probably not run autos again, my last 4 grows have been with autos and as good as they are they're not for me, they have their place for sure but I'm fed up with the uncertainty of them and the inability to keep clones of the good ones Yield came in at 1.5oz for a couple (1 was a runt but gorgeous smoke), most between 2-2.5oz and the odd one touching almost 4oz. Anyway, in no particular order here's some photos