First grow: Autoflower Vertigo and Ak-47

Yes, I agree, there are many ways people dry and cure and obviously what works for them is great. One method that caught my eye was to cut and trim the plant and hang it for drying. The length of time to dry is determined by ambient relative humidity. If the RH is 40% you would dry plant for 4 days PLUS ONE (5 days total). If the RH is 60%, dry for 6 days PLUS ONE (total 7 days). That seemed like a pretty simple formula for me. Then place in storage/curing containers along with a hydgrometer and humidipak. Of course I'll do the bend twig test also but I figure with the 62% humidipaks that a bit over or under won't matter. My new seeds (Northern Lights and Aurora Indica) from Nirvana shipped today. Yoohoo!

I noticed some discoloration on some of my fan leaves today. Yellowish on some, but slightly brown on others. Tested the soil pH, and it is around 6.7 on all plants. The last watering was pure water at a PH of 6.3, so I'm guessing it's something other than nute burn. See the pics below. The spots are only affecting a few fan leaves.

PH of soil:

vertigo 1 = 6.7
vertigo 2 = 6.8
ak47 = 6.7

Otherwise, all 3 plants still look healthy except for the slight discoloration on some of the vertigo's fan leaves and some of the small leaves around bud sites curling up a little. The ak47 has no symptoms of problems.

I measured the soil PH by mixing distilled water with soil samples from each plant into a thick, muddy solution. Is this an adequate way to measure soil PH?

I figured I'd post a few new pics along with the post above about the first problem that I've encountered. Other than the spots on the leaves, the plants look healthy and have grown a decent amount in the past few days. Flower formation continues to progress on the vertigos. The ak47 is really growing in nicely.

No changes to my setup this week other than moving the humidifier outside of my grow tent. I placed it in front of the passive air intake at the bottom of my tent so that the exhaust fan pulls humidity and heated mist in from the outside. This has cleared up space in my tent making it easier to move the plants around.

I'll be watering the plants first thing in the morning, but I don't have any CaMg to add which I suspect might be the problem. I'm leaning toward a Cal mag defficiency because I'm using distilled water and haven't been adding this during the grow. From what I'm reading now, I should be adding this with each watering. Hopefully, the leaf spots won't get any worse, and once my CaMg arrives, then I can get my vertigo's back on track. Vertigo 2 is growing the slowest, and I'm not sure why it's so much different than the other. Since my last photo update, vertigo 1 has grown over 4 inches, while vertigo 2 has only grown just over an inch. =/ Both plants are growing under the exact same conditions, and for the last 5 days, I even swapped spots to see if it was a light issue.

vertigos = 36 days from seed
height = 22 inches and 15 inches

ak47 = 28 days from seed
height = 10.5 inches

If anyone has any random tips or if they think my diagnosis for the leaf discoloration is incorrect, then please give your 2 cents. Judging from a guide I cam across to diagnose plant problems, it looks like a CaMg deficiency.

Been nearly a week since my last update, so I figured I'd post some updates and progress pics.

All 3 plants still seem to be healthy and are still growing. Vertigo 1 developed spots on a few more leaves early in the week, however, it doesn't seem to be getting worse. I added CalMag to the water this week for the first time. Hopefully, that is what was causing the problem. I'll be posting separate post with photos of the leaf discoloration here and in the plant problems forum. Other than discoloration on the top leaves, the plant looks good with lots of well-developed flowers. The ak47 is growing very quickly now. It grows much different than the vertigos, as it is a very bushy plant. I've been doing leaf tucking on all of the plants, but they all have so much growth now that this has become increasingly difficult.

In other news, the plants have quickly outgrown their space! I'm getting a 3'x3' tent soon to replace the 36"x20" tent they're in now. 3 plants is too much for this little tent. I'll need a separate tent for drying purposes, so the old tent will still get use.

vertigo 1=25.5" tall
vertigo 2=17.5" tall

ak47=16" tall

Photos of leaf discoloration on vertigo #1...

I'll be sharing these in the plant problems section, but if anyone has advice, then please comment!

All 3 plants are still looking healthy and progressing nicely. The deficiency on vertigo 1 hasn't gotten worse since I added the calmag. The affected leaves look like shit...Strangely, the side branches on vertigo 2 have grown taller than the main cola.

Due to my underestimating plant size, they outgrew their 36"x20" tent. Particularly the ak47, which is bushy and continues to grow bigger. All three plants are now in a 3'x3' tent! I should've started with this size to begin with. Based on their progression and their predicted harvest date, the 2 vertigos should finish within 3 weeks. I have enough room to fit another 5 gallon Smartpot, so I'm thinking of popping another ak47 seed this week or next to go ahead and get the next grow underway. I have both vertigo and ak47 seeds, but since the ak47 is supposed to take longer, I figured starting it early might allow me to harvest the next group of 3 (2 vertigo, 1 ak47) around the same time. On another thread that I've been following, this strain of ak47 just pulled 100g's from one plant! I'd be more than happy to have mine end up with half of that.

vertigo 1= 26.5" @ 48 days

vertigo 2=18" main cola, 19.5" side branches @ 48 days

ak47=20" @ 40 days

The vertigos are now 59 days old from seed. The breeder says they are a 60 day strain, but I'm guessing both plants have about 2 more weeks, since the leaves haven't really started yellowing yet. Also, there is still a large number of white pistils, and they haven't started receding. Trichomes are still clear. The bud development on both is coming along nicely, but I'm sure they'll fatten up more in the next couple weeks. I was really hoping to harvest this week! Guess I'll just have to wait...

The ak47 is looking really good! Lots of bud sites developing, and the main cola is getting thicker. It's now 51 days old, so it likely has at lest 3 weeks left. Maybe 4....

Here are some updated photos.

The vertigos are both 59 days from seed. 60 day strain? Not quite! I flashed the photo of the main cola on the biggest vertigo to show how frosty all the flowers have gotten.

The ak47 is now 51 days from seed.

I think the vertigos have maybe 2 weeks left, so they'll be getting nothing but water from here on out. Any thoughts or opinions?

Both vertigos are at 67 days from seed. There are a few amber trichs on both of them, but only 5% or less. The leaves on the taller one (vertigo 1 in pic) have yellowed some, but the leaves on the other shows no signs of yellowing leaves yet. The one with the yellowing leaves had a nutrient deficiency a few weeks back, so some of the leaves were a little discolored to begin with. I'm thinking of harvesting one or both vertigos as soon as Saturday, but I may wait a little longer if anyone wants to offer their opinion. I cut off an undeveloped bud at the bottom of the taller vertigo for a sample. It was pretty impressive considering it was the lowest, least dense bud on the plant.

The ak47 continues to impress with its expanded growth and numerous dense flowers. It's now at 59 days old and probably has 3-4 weeks left. By that time, it'll have the grow area all to itself. The main cola on it is almost as fat as on the vertigos which are predicted to have a shorter grow period.

Check the pics below. Please offer your thoughts on harvesting and/or other general comments.

The tallest of the two vertigos was chopped earlier this week. The dry weight came out to just over 3 o's not including stragglers from the bottom branches. Vertigo 2 is at 77 days and should be ready to chop within a few days. It looks like it'll produce at least half of what the taller one did. The ak47 is still going strong with lots of thick, frosty colas. It's still packing on weight, and it looks like it'll out produce the vertigos. 4 zips off one auto?!?! It might happen. In any case, this will be a far more fruitful first grow than I expected.

One of the reasons why my expectations were so low was from reading the large number of anti-autoflower posts on RIU. The two largest criticisms of autoflowers in posts were that they don't produce much weight and that the smoke isn't quality. First, despite many people claiming that you're lucky to get 1 zip per plant, all 3 of mine will produce more than that. Two will end up being about 3.5 per plant, and the other will be close to 2. That's with no LST, etc. just dropped it in the dirt, watered, and a little leaf tucking from time to time. Second, the smoke is just fine! This is my first grow, but I've been smoking this shit for decades. The vertigo turned out some frosty, potent nugs, and they'll only get better after the cure. Is it the most potent I've ever had? No. Is it more or equally as potent as the average shit being sold by most randoms? Yes.

My conclusion....if reputable strains of autos are used, the yield and smoke are adequate for personal consumption. On top of that, they're ridiculously easy to grow! I've got a few photo periods to grow at some point, but I definitely won't hesitate to grow autos again. If a newbie can get these results, then it makes me question how other "experienced" growers screwed up their few attempts at autoflowers. Thankfully, there were some good auto growers out there who gave great information in their posts.