Dinafem Auto Cookies under DIYLEDUK 550 PAR+

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 15/01/2020 at 6:48 PM, cloudy days said:

I'm cranking up the lights at every feed too, I'll probably go up to around 165W per board tomorrow

 

That's going to make a big difference mate

 

I'll keep a look out for your next update buddy

 

All the best 

 

Mark..

[cloudy days]

Hello.  We are now at Day 35 (29 for the Critical +).  Feed is now light Bloom nutes.  The Root Stim, Bio Silicon etc has stopped and they are needing a drink every 2-3 days now.

 

Here's a pic of them all together

The Auto Critical + continues to impress with how quick it is coming up.  The top right plant on that picture, it is the tallest despite being 6 days behind the Cookies.

 

Close up of the bottom right Cookie.  Still the bushiest, but not that much vertical growth.  There seems to be a lot going on in there.

Here's the tallest Cookie, top right from the Group pic.  Almost as tall as the Critical + and has the most flowering at the moment.  Pic of the top.

Here's the Auto Critical +.  Looks like a strong girl.  She's on the top right of the group shot.

Finally the smallest Cookie, from the bottom right.  Still looks healthy to me, just smaller than the others.

 

Lights are pulling around 170W each.  I had a ducting problem which caused temps to spike up towards 31C and RH drop to low 30s but that got caught quickly and we are around 28-29C lights on, 24-25C lights off and 40% RH.  The plan is to keep cranking the lights up 10-15W every couple of days until the temps become a problem or the plants seem to struggle.

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 21/01/2020 at 11:22 AM, cloudy days said:

The plan is to keep cranking the lights up 10-15W every couple of days

 

Personally I would get that power cranked up as far as you can mate 

 

Your at that stage where every lumen counts 

 

If you can keep temps and RH within range, get those light's on as full power as possible , it will be beneficial in my opinion 

 

Looking good buddy 

 

All the best

 

Mark..

[cloudy days]

It's been a while since I updated and it hasn't been going quite to plan.

I had a problem with one of the light boards which started as an intermittent issue and then settled in.  Adam at @diyleduk was great, I took the unit up to him and he switched the driver out.  Top quality customer service, he even refunded my fuel money although I was quite happy to have the drive.  Thanks Adam  .  I could have got this all sorted earlier if I'd have been more pro-active, but other stuff happens and not really wanting to pack the light up and ship it I took it in person as soon as I could.

 

So there's been an indeterminate amount of time where one of the light boards was pulling only 14 watts while the other was running flat out.  Added to that I've been struggling to keep the RH above 40% so I've bitten the bullet and ordered a humidifier.  It's rather late in this grow to make much of a difference but I'll see if it helps turn things around in the final stretch and it's going to be in-situ for the next attempt.

 

First of all I'm going to talk about the 2 Auto Cookies that have been under the light that was always working 100%.  They are very heavy with bud for their size but they are quite small in height.  I was expecting them to be maybe 30-40 cm higher and I have lots of headroom here.  I put this down to having the lights at too low a power level early in the grow.  Incidentally the Could my scopes be too bright? thread is a great resource.  While the lights may have been too low in power early in the cycle I think they have been too high in power lately and I'm seeing the sort of problems that @Smokebelch had.  The shorter on these two at first glance looks almost ready to chop at about day 63.  Checking things with a loupe shows that we're not there yet but perhaps around a week away (which is good as I'm running on fumes here!!!).  The taller of the 2 is still very 'white' and I think will run a while longer.  Despite my best attempts to fuck them up I'm impressed with the thickness and length of the buds on these it's just that being comparatively small plants overall (my mistakes again I think), there's not as much as I'd like!  The shorter of the 2 is certainly going to be ready before the advertised 75 days, which might be down to her being small....?

 

The Auto Critical + and the other Auto Cookie were under the light that was a bit moody for around 10 days.  When I noticed the light problem I did shift things around to try and make the best of it, but these two suffered the most.  First the Cookie.  Probably the most healthy plant of the lot, but she's very small.  Being so short but comparatively healthy leads me to believe that when the lights have been running full pelt, they've been too strong even at 18"+ high.  This plant is also the 'whitest' of the 4 and honestly looks like she could run another month but she can only have another 3 weeks max before I go on holiday.  The Auto Critical + is interesting.  She's about as tall as I expect but quite thin and reedy in comparison to the Cookies. This may be a genetic trait but I can see she's not had the easiest time of it.  The 'correct' height I put down to her being planted after the Cookies (one of those didn't germinate) and therefore not having so much low power light at the start.  There's purple striations in the stem and a lot of leaf die out.  Having said that, over the last 72 hours or so she's started to bulk out a little and cheer up so I think will be ready around the time of the slower of the 2 Cookies that were under the good light.

 

I will try and get some pics up over the next few days.

 

When I started this I said something along the lines of it being a learning process (new to LEDs and Autos) and it has certainly been that.  The key things I have taken from this and will implement on my next one are as follows.

 

When the plants are at seedling level, give them more light than I did here (I will go with a combined 300w from the 2 boards or just run 1 at full power).

 

When they start to flower, crank the lights up but not to flat out as I think that's just too strong for 1.2m x 1.2m.  (I will go with a combined 450w and adjust from there).  You may be able to go higher but only if you can ....

Keep the RH high enough.  I'm going to try to use the last couple of weeks of this to dial in the humidifier that should be arriving tomorrow.

 

Overall - I've done my best to butcher these plants but they are still going to provide some decent bud for me and really that's all that counts.  I'm pretty sure next time around I can do a lot better job.  Dialling in the light power/RH looks key for my setup,  Of course, YMMV.

 

Also, I think 18 litre pots are too big and I'll be going down in size next time.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2020 by cloudy days
added the bit about the pot size

[delagdo]

Thank you for sharing your adventure with new growing. A lot of what you said sounded familiar to me - I used to grow OK photoperiods then after a break, and some re-education I was no longer doubting of autos, and they had appealing reasons to grow. I wanted to move on from HPS, though in my case I invested in CMH rather than LED.

 

Your plants look great in the most recent photos. Autos are all about those first few weeks. That's all you get, unlike with photos where you can veg for as long as you like. Small problems can impact the final result. It looks like you already did a good job, yours got off to a great start as it is, regardless of low humidity.

 

Sorry to hear about your lighting problems. I'm glad you got it sorted out without hassle. It's great to hear you still have a decent enough harvest soon. I hope you can get some pictures up for us to see. Good luck with the last few weeks!

[cloudy days]

@delagdo Thanks

As you say, if you hit a problem with Autos, you lose out as you are always running against the clock.  With photoperiod strains you have some leeway to turn things around.  Circumstances for me have changed, and while a few years ago I could run long veg times on strains that also had long (14 weeks) flowering periods, I can't get the cover for those times when I have to be away now.  I have grow windows that average around 10 to 11 weeks so Autos seem to be my go to option. 

I'm already planning my next attempt and I've got some more Critical + Autos plus some Sweet Seeds Creme Caramel Autos.  Leaning towards running 5 in 11 litre pots, 3 of one, 2 of the other.  The quoted lifecycle times of these 2 strains match up fairly well and I think it would be an interesting comparison.

[cloudy days]

Quick update and some pics to follow tomorrow.

 

I realise the last couple of my posts are a bit 'Debbie Downer' so here's a good news post.

Took down one of the Cookies today.  I snipped a branch early too and gave it a 4 day quick dry (I know, I know, I promise not to do it again until the next time).  Let me tell you that these buds are the densest I have EVER grown.  The branch I snipped I figured would come out to around 4 to 5 g maximum.  It was around 7.5 

I will post the pic of when there was nothing left but the central cola next to a tape measure.  Whole damn plant was only about 16" tall and despite that I reckon there's going to be over 2 ounces from it.

[cloudy days]

Pictures

 

Here's the 4 plants at Day 63 (Day 57 for the Critical +).  Critical + is labeled and top right.  This is just before putting in the humidifier, I'd had RH dropping as low as 32%.

 

Here's a pic of the central cola on the Cookie that got chopped at Day 69.  The tape measure is to show the plant is only 17" out of the soil.

 

Despite that, the buds were dense and heavy (I believe the favoured term nowadays is 'thicc') and here's the haul from this plant hung up after a rough trim.

 

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 19/02/2020 at 4:01 PM, cloudy days said:

First of all I'm going to talk about the 2 Auto Cookies that have been under the light that was always working 100%.  They are very heavy with bud for their size but they are quite small in height.  I was expecting them to be maybe 30-40 cm higher and I have lots of headroom here.  I put this down to having the lights at too low a power level early in the grow. 

 

I'm going with genetics mate

 

We used Auto Cookies for the Solo Cup Challenge on AFN and we saw 2 phenos.

 

Pheno 1- Stayed super short, squat and produced quite well. Average was 20g from a Solo Cup 

 

Pheno 2- Got considerably taller than pheno 1. More side branches and the production was close to double compared to the short lady 

 

Sounds like you've got "pheno 1"

 

2 hours ago, cloudy days said:

Pictures

 

Here's the 4 plants at Day 63 (Day 57 for the Critical +).  Critical + is labeled and top right.  This is just before putting in the humidifier, I'd had RH dropping as low as 32%.

 

Here's a pic of the central cola on the Cookie that got chopped at Day 69.  The tape measure is to show the plant is only 17" out of the soil.

 

Despite that, the buds were dense and heavy (I believe the favoured term nowadays is 'thicc') and here's the haul from this plant hung up after a rough trim.

 

 

Thanks for the picture update and congrats on the harvest 

 

Smoke report to follow once fully dry and cured of course? 

 

A man with a plan, cool

 

Not long now buddy 

 

All the best

 

Mark..

[cloudy days]

4 minutes ago, Dinafem-Mark said:

 

I'm going with genetics mate

 

We used Auto Cookies for the Solo Cup Challenge on AFN and we saw 2 phenos.

 

Pheno 1- Stayed super short, squat and produced quite well. Average was 20g from a Solo Cup 

 

Pheno 2- Got considerably taller than pheno 1. More side branches and the production was close to double compared to the short lady 

 

Sounds like you've got "pheno 1"

 

 

Thanks for the picture update and congrats on the harvest 

 

Smoke report to follow once fully dry and cured of course? 

 

A man with a plan, cool

 

Not long now buddy 

 

All the best

 

Mark..

 

There will be a smoke report to follow and final weights etc.  It's going to be interesting to compare the Cookie chopped at 69 days with the ones that will go to 74/75.  The Critical + has bulked out really nicely this last week and some of the lower branches are drooping due to the weight.  A good sign I think.  I'll be tying them up for the last few days, chop chop planned for this coming Friday.

 

I'll try to get some better pictures just before I chop the remaining 3.  I'm giving up with the phone camera, it's just too shite.

 

[Dinafem-Mark]

4 hours ago, cloudy days said:

I'll try to get some better pictures just before I chop the remaining 3. 

 

Thanks buddy I'll keep a look out 

 

4 hours ago, cloudy days said:

There will be a smoke report to follow and final weights etc. 

 

Can't wait 

 

All the best

 

Mark..

[cloudy days]

The last few days since the humidifier was installed I've been experimenting with light power & distance etc to see what I can get away with.  I've also gone to a 20/4 cycle with the lights.

 

I have some lights off pictures.  (Still phone camera I'm afraid).

 

First up, Pheno 1 of the Auto Cookies at 72 days.  I'm calling this one 'the shrubbery'.  The other remaining Cookie is in the foreground.

 

 

Next, Pheno 2 of the Auto Cookies also at 72 days.  I'm naming this one 'the chandelier', 'the shrubbery' is visible in the background.

 

 

Lastly it's the Auto Critical + at 66 days.

This one has shown a lot more bleaching of the leaves. I ran at 500W the last 72 hours and this was the tallest plant at around 15" from the light engine and has suffered the most.  Temps (26-29C) and RH (c. 45%) seem OK, I just think this one has been a little close.

[Dinafem-Mark]

On 26/02/2020 at 2:00 PM, cloudy days said:

This one has shown a lot more bleaching of the leaves. I ran at 500W the last 72 hours and this was the tallest plant at around 15" from the light engine and has suffered the most.  Temps (26-29C) and RH (c. 45%) seem OK, I just think this one has been a little close.

 

By the look of things 15" is a little close imo mate

 

Personally I'd back it of to around 18" from the top of the plant canopy if thats a viable options? 

 

Your in the home stretch now mate 

 

Until next time 

 

All the best

 

Mark..

[cloudy days]

Plants are all dry now and I've got some very interesting numbers so far as a result.

 

First up, the Cookie I chopped at 69 days.  She was one of the shorter phenotype but looked to have some pretty fat buds.  

Final weight for this was 82g, if I add in the weight of the bit that I chopped even earlier, then I get 89g which is astonishingly good.

 

Assorted popcorn from the other 2 Cookies and the Critical + netted me 15g.

 

The bud from the other two Cookies (chopped after 74 days) had to be mixed up so I can't give you a per plant value.  There was one of each pheno, but the total amount from these 2 Cookies was 165g.

 

I'll weigh the Critical + tomorrow to come up with a final score, but with 3 plants down and weighed out of 4 I have 269g.

 

When I consider the problems I had with one of my lights for a bit and the very low RH at certain points I am absolutely flabbergasted at this result.  

Despite my best efforts to ruin it, a combination of great lights @diyleduk and genetics @Dinafem-Mark have given me a fantastic result.

Final weight of the Critical + and smoke reports etc to follow.

[cloudy days]

I have just finished weighing up the Auto Critical + and she yielded 73g.

All told, a grand total of 342g.  All jarred up.

For those of you a bit more 'old school', that's just over 12 ounces.  

If someone had told me I'd get that at the start of this adventure, I'd have laughed at them.

 

For my first go with LEDs and Autoflowering strains, I'm really pleased with the numbers, and to top it off I know I can do better in future.

 

Bud pictures & smoke report will arrive in due course.

Edited March 9, 2020 by cloudy days