Cookies Gelato Auto

[Alskae]

Hi all doing some autos from RQS, quite low effort, never even had reflective for the first 3 weeks. Humidity isn't optimal and temps are consistently around 16-18c but these are doing very well considering.

Don't have the equipment to measure ec or pH but these have been taking nutes as if it's a normal photoperiod they've been drinking full dose of nutes recommended on the bottle in the later weeks (Root Stim, Sensi Bloom A+B, Big Bud), if anyone's interested about the earlier weeks they were fed half dose of Ionic Soil Grow.

They're under a Mars Hydro TS1000 (150w) and a 250w blurple light,

There was some basic training I tied the tops down to encourage side growth however I never tied each individual branch down.

5 of them are in 12L fabric pots but they probably only have 6-8L of soil and 2 of them are in 7.5L plastic pots and are 6 days behind the other 5. Oddly though despite being 6 days behind one of the ones in the plastic pots looks the exact same as the other 5 whereas the other one in the plastic pot looks about 2 weeks behind so not sure what has happened there. 

The reason I've put low effort in the title is due to the fact I've not been controlling temps, humidity, ec, pH. Other than training and feeding I've just left them to do their thing, there's not even any extraction in there at the minute. I will manage humidity more in the later stages however at the minute they are loving it in there. 

I've heard a lot of people that dislike autos and that if you don't follow the right root temps, humidity and a lot of other factors that they will stunt in veg and you'll be left with a bad yield but I don't have a single bad thing to say about them. Conditions throughout the whole thing have not been optimal and they are loving it in there, only one of them is quite small so a pretty good success rate 6/7. Potential reasons one of them is quite small is being shaded by the other bigger ones, less root airflow and maybe the phenotype as the leaves look a bit funky with quite a few single bladed leaves.

[Alskae]

Wrote all that out about a week or so ago never got around to posting so there's been a lot of progress since then, the one which i said was about 2 weeks behind is now steadily catching up with the others, I've determined that it's probably a mutant and since it has had longer in veg very probably could be the biggest one in there soon. 

Also forgot to say the room is 2x4foot, it's filled up quite nicely in there some slight defoliation has been required as they're 80% indica they're quite short and bushy so I've chopped a few leaves off to allow more light into the canopy, haven't went crazy with it though as they're autos and don't like to be stressed as much.

 

Temps and humidity still all over the place, humidity jumped up to 87% after watering but they really don't care I will more closely monitor this in the last weeks.

 

Had some slight nute burn on the bottom leaves after using full dose for several feeds in a row so flushed with some plain water then it will be back to half or 3/4 dose.

 

All in all this is a very resilient strain by the looks of it, handles any mistakes one could throw at it so am very pleased so far just from a quick glance I can see about 50-60 bud sites, will post some photos later.

[purepotstill]

Yeah, post some pics. Did 4 autos in 15L pots under a 315W CMH last time, and almost hit the gpw. I've limited environment fluctuations by lighting them 24/7, but not sure it will be as efficient with LEDs. Try to not overfeed them because they're no recuperation time with autos : when they begin to show pistils, it's too late to correct anything. Did you train them ? Mine looked like that :

 

[Alskae]

1 hour ago, purepotstill said:

Yeah, post some pics. Did 4 autos in 15L pots under a 315W CMH last time, and almost hit the gpw. I've limited environment fluctuations by lighting them 24/7, but not sure it will be as efficient with LEDs. Try to not overfeed them because they're no recuperation time with autos : when they begin to show pistils, it's too late to correct anything. Did you train them ? Mine looked like that :

 

Mine are on an 18/6 schedule, lights are about 12" away from the top of the canopy. I did some low stress straining methods I tied all the main branches down with a bit of string tied round the top of the fabric pots, I didn't pull each individual branch down to begin with though just the main to encourage some side growth. Now they are in flower and because the space is relatively small the branches were growing quite close together so I've used string again, tied to the top of the fabric pot and pulled them apart for better light distribution because when they were bunched up there was a lot of overlapping leaves.

I'll put some photos up in a few hours time.

[purepotstill]

LST's perfect for autos. I used a tip another member found (it was @superfruitif I remember well) to help with fabric pots : I planted some bamboo picks into the upper part of the pot like a kerplunk game and tie the stems from here. Must have a pic somewhere... Found it :

 

 

[Alskae]

1 hour ago, purepotstill said:

LST's perfect for autos. I used a tip another member found (it was @superfruitif I remember well) to help with fabric pots : I planted some bamboo picks into the upper part of the pot like a kerplunk game and tie the stems from here. Must have a pic somewhere... Found it :

 

 

Oh that's pretty smart actually I'll have to do that on the next run because when tying to the pot itself it bends inwards and then it the branches don't stay exactly where you want them. 

Also how many weeks into flower was the photo you sent before?

[Alskae]

Roughly 10, 20 and 27 days in flower.

Edited February 17, 2023 by Alskae

[purepotstill]

It was day 56 since sprouted, so around 3-4 weeks flowering.

 

Edit : yours look good. Maybe a bit thirsty, better growers than me may confirm.

Edited February 17, 2023 by purepotstill

[Alskae]

Just now, purepotstill said:

It was day 56 since sprouted, so around 3-4 weeks flowering.

Mine still have 30 days give or take they've been fattening up in the past few days alone so hopefully they don't get too out of control size wise in the next month. The one I think is a mutant was in veg for nearly 6 weeks so that will definitely be the latest finisher at probably 40 days away, that's the one in the 3 photos above with the black wire going through it, could very well end up being the biggest in there but I'm not too sure yet. There's 7 in there so it's quite tight for space already so going to have to keep an eye on that as don't want any issues with rot if they get too big seeing as my humidity is already all over the place.

[Alskae]

[Alskae]

Temps have gone up which is good sitting at 20-25c, humidity is stable currently at around 45-55% so I'm happy with that. 

 

Does anyone know if lifting the lights up will cause the branches to stretch or do they stretch once at the start of flower and that's it? Would like some of the side colas to gain a bit of height so they aren't being overlapped by any other leaves.

[Alskae]

The bud sites on the right side of the room which are under the purple light are really fattening up now compared to the Mars Hydro light, they did all start flowering at different times so maybe it's just because the left side was later to bloom. Also dont know if it's just different phenos but the leaves on the right side under the purple light are very thin and the leaves on the left are a lot more wider and quite big.

The ones in the middle receiving both the white and purple light are doing the best at the minute the front middle is the biggest one in the room and second biggest is the back middle one. Despite different phenos most of them have a similar smell, the back middle one however has a really nice fruity smell to it unlike all the others.

Humidity has been quite high again but back down to the fifties. Temps have been doing a lot better though sitting at around 23-25c.

It has become quite cramped in there so might have to chop of a few leaves off just to allow a bit more air into the canopy.

 

Is anyone else doing any at the minute? Would like to see how other people's autos are doing.

[purepotstill]

Don't think leaves' morphology is linked to the lights. Different pheno's my guess. You could cut lower leaves to improve the airflow but I wouldn't touch this canopy.

[Alskae]

Just now, purepotstill said:

Don't think leaves' morphology is linked to the lights. Different pheno's my guess. You could cut lower leaves to improve the airflow but I wouldn't touch this canopy.

Okay mate I'll leave the canopy untouched, will chop the lower leaves as even with the reflective they aren't receiving any light because of how bushy it is at the top.

[Alskae]

Hi all got some bud shots today from the 2 middle plants which are doing the best at the minute and are roughly 30 days into flower. So another 26 days I reckon on them which would bring them to the 8 weeks in flower, have to see closer to the time though if they are ready to chop on the 8th week.

 

Would like to do a staggered harvest so chop all the main colas off and leave the smaller ones for an extra week. So if I flush them for 10 days and harvest the main colas will the smaller ones still be alright with plain water after that aswell cause if I was planning to leave them for an extra week that would be 17 days of plain water. What's everyone's opinion on that?

 

Leaves are very clustered together but I haven't chopped any other than a few wilted ones at the very bottom because they weren't getting any light.

That photo shows a bit how clustered together it actually is, there's been a lot of tucking to say the least to ensure the bud sights aren't being blocked by any bigger leaves.

 

And heres the budshots I mentioned at the start of this post from the middle plants-

Starting to look very crystally now makes for some good photos with the flash on had to downscale the photos from 4k though so the file sizes were small enough to upload.

 

I thought just one had the fruity pheno but another one does, the other 5 have a similar skunky smell to it whereas the back middle and front right one have a really nice fruity scent to it so it will be interesting to see if that carries over to the smoke aswell.

 

Edit: Forgot to say aswell the nugs in the photos above are rock hard off the middle plants so hopefully rot won't be an issue in the next few weeks. Also if anyone points out any burnt tips I already flushed with plain water for 2 feeds and lowered nute dose to half they just haven't repaired themselves.

Edited February 20, 2023 by Alskae