1st Grow: CFL Lowryder Auto Dwarf

After some great advice (https://www.rollitup.org/marijuana-plant-problems/301059-germinate-fine-no-sprouting-after.html), one of my germ's sprouted!

I toyed with this log for some time. Now that my sprout is growing I've decided to bight the bullet. So exciting!

I did the germination in a well washed small plastic butter container. Folded the seeds into a napkin, dampened w/distilled water, and set on top of light fixture for some extra heat. I think the heat must be an issue as the seeds show the sprout but it's tiny and they seem to stop sprouting. Like I said, one did but nine died.

So, when the one sprouted I put it into a small plastic cup filled with rinsed Fox Farm Ocean Forest. This was on 2/11 and I have no pix. I've had one CFL about 1.5" above the beautiful bugger on 24/7.

Here are pix from 2/22 (early AM) and 2/23 (7pm).

I should note - any advice is absolutely welcome!!! Right now I'm looking for good examples of LST (how, why, etc.).

A lot of growth for 2 days! Still keeping the single CFL about 2" from the plant. Contemplating moving it up for longer flower.

Hey man looks good. What watt is your CFL? and how many CFLs you going to have to flower?

man looks great. nice job well done.

djlifeline said:

Hey man looks good. What watt is your CFL? and how many CFLs you going to have to flower?

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Thanks! I started with a single 23w (1640 lumens). Three days ago I got two more and now have all three mounted above her (still thinking of a good name for my first 'baby'). From what I've read, and since I'm a noob, I think I'm to continue 24/7 light until the end. I'll mix it up next time when I get away from the auto variety.

Nice! 18 days from sprout pictured below. I bit the bullett and popped for two more CFL's the other day. Today I trimmed off the lower two leaves and am wondering if I should continue...Will spend some time tonight getting edumacated.

Advice is always welcome - especially regarding my final month. Do you think she looks healthy? The leaves seem awfully large (not complaining as they seem healthy to me). I plan to live out the remaining days with the same soil she's in now (FFOF). Should I do another transplant or look at getting any nutes?

It's such a beautiful plant!

Hey man that plant is looking great! for just having a couple CFLs on it the leaves are nice, green, and large. this means you probably have a decent root system established already. The seed you had is probably one with good genetics as well, you should be able to expect a nice girl outta this if you keep taking care of it

DAY 22!

Nutes coming into question now along with light. She's been doing great with 24/7 light and no nutes, but it seems like she's now stalled. I read that LR auto dwarf really should have bloom nutes right about now, so I'm thinking about grabbing some flowering kind. I also read suggestions for a 4 hour dark period to induce flowering. This being my first grow, I don't really know what to look for. I'm going to switch the light off now - if anyone thinks this is either a good or bad idea, I'm all ears! Overall she's beautiful. The experience has been fantastic and I'm in the market for my next batch of seeds. Thinking I'll stay with a dwarf since all the magic is happening inside of an old Antec PC box's box lined with foil and 3 CFL's in a power strip mounted to the top of the box.

Hey man, I think i have some advice you might like to use. To induce flowering turn from 24/7 to 20/4, 18/6 or even 12/12. Though im not sure about 12/12 for a autoflowering strain. 12/12 is always best when it isnt a auto but unless you've read different for auto flowers then sweet as. Your plant looks really healthy. I think you should get some bio bizz flowering nutes or organic bloom. I pefer organic bloom because when your buds come out, I like to know ive gone organic/natural. Also, Get red spectrum(2700k) cfl's when you start floweing. Blue spectrum(6500k) is the best you can get for veg. I hope that helps a bit. Nice grow so far ill be watching

CFL+OutdoorGrower said:

Hey man, I think i have some advice you might like to use...

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Thanks for the advice!

Yesterday I replaced two 6500k CFL's with 2700k's (40w & 65w beast). My new favorite store had Big Bloom in stock, so I picked some up. These pix are the last before having their nutes. She looks perfect - dark green and full. I'm not too sure what beginning flowers look like, but have to think the 'hairs' are a good indicator - and she has a ton! She's been 2" below the light until yesterday when I dropped her down to about 6" below. Overnight she did what I was hoping by reaching up big time for the light. My thought process here is that she might obtain taller flowers if I drop her down now from 2" below the light. So far so good! I'll post a comparison between before/after nutes/light drop late tonight! I'm also sticking with the 4hrs/day of dark time as I don't think it can do any damage. Looking for a trick (like molasses) to enhance her upon harvest...Any proven techniques you want to share?

Molasses will pump your buds. What's the NPK of the big bloom?

For Veg i use 3.1.0. For Bud use 0.3.3

CFL+OutdoorGrower said:

Molasses will pump your buds. What's the NPK of the big bloom?

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.01 .3 .7

I used the recommended 1/2 cup per gallon and she's still sipping that. Will drop down to 4tbsp/gallon when this batch is done - Unless someone posts a reason why another plan is better.

Today after 4hrs of darkness, her pistils (hairs) went from long, white, and juicy looking to dry and browning. I'm wondering what that means. Time to do some more reading! I implemented LST. A couple of pix attached. She's definitely flowering!

1st pic is old - of juicy pistils - then the way look today. Finally, my old PC box with mylar & crazy bright lights.

Well, the pistils look much better today and the flowers are really taking shape! I need to learn how to post pix directly to this thread, instead of as attachments, so you can see the detail. The pix were from today just before lights out.

Looks like my next grow will be an even bigger education as I found a couple of good deals on ebay! Got a 2x4x5 FT HYDROPONICS GROW TENT HYDRO BOX HUT CABINET & "The worlds least expensive hydroponics kit". Both should be here by the weekend along with my next batch of seeds! What a fun hobby!

When the pistols start turning brown from the tip downwards it means maturaty or heat. When they brown from the bottom up its a like nematodes(Rooteaters) or like budworms. (caterpillars) Or just a shitty root system. Hope that helps. Goodluck

She seems to ebb & flow. One morning she looks great (dark leaves & juicy pistils) then sometimes in a few hours she's yellowing and weak. I'm wondering if it's the nutes. Still working through the first gallon of water w/.5 cup FF big bloom. Is there something better to be using for flowering? Initially I thought fully organic would be cool, but now I don't care. Maybe if I was using the sun, but since I'm using artificial light, why not use artificial nutes? I plan to re-stock w/top quality nutes for the next grow, once the tent and hydro kit arrive. Seeds arrived today, so I'm starting a new thread once they germ. Waiting until I have sprouts since I managed to kill a total of 10 post germination last time. I'm going with 6 paper towels (folded) soaked in distilled water in a light-proof bowl with a lid on top of my current CFL's (for heat). Any suggestions welcome - especially if I'm doing something wrong! This time I'm using those store bought seedling tabs that soak up a ton of water instead of the foam starters. We'll see!

I love the composition of the first picture...May even make it my wallpaper! The other pic shows how well the LST is working out! Those guys would have been buried next to the giant main stem had I not moved them out.

In my reading prior to yesterday, I thought cloning was some magic that the pro's use. Well, I'm now educated! Clone! It's easier than seeds, right? I pulled of the lowest branch today and have it in one of the grow plugs. It's with the growing plant but under an cut open soda bottle for humidity (clone humid until roots - plant dry to encourage resin). I know it's best to do this before flower since the clone now has to 'shift gears' back to veg, but at least it's a start (pun intended).

Today I'm also going back to 24/0 light! I've read that the dark time is completely unnecessary for an autoflower since this time is just used to store sugars for use the next dark phase. Hopefully this will encourage more growth in the flowers. I'm maxed out for height in the box. Her top flower is about an inch from the light. I'll keep this unless someone tells me another way or until she grows taller.

CFL+OutdoorGrower said:

When the pistols start turning brown from the tip downwards it means maturaty or heat. When they brown from the bottom up its a like nematodes(Rooteaters) or like budworms. (caterpillars) Or just a shitty root system. Hope that helps. Goodluck

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I see! Thank you! Now to determine if it's heat or not. I admit my ventilation sux since I started this venture as a passing thing. Now that I'm intrigued, I want to do it well! Next time will be (hopefully) much more organized!

The tips turned brown and dried up going toward the plant. With that and since she has zero contact with nature outside of air and soil, I'm guessing no worms. It's funny, they go dark then seem to rejuvenate. Let's hope it's maturity !

Beautiful Pistils!!! Goal this week = figure out how to put pix inline here...The detail of the close-up is just lost w/the popup.