Old smoker - 1st grow - still have a few weeks i think?

Hi everyone, have four gg4 autos going into mid-late flower - day 73 since breaking ground - day 37 of flower. They all started at same time but one looks like it will finish a couple weeks after the rest.

Have been reading a lot on the different boards trying to absorb all I can to make sure I'm successful with my grow. I started checking trichs on 3 of the plants....seems to be about 50/50 clear/cloudy with no amber yet. Still have a lot of white pistils too and calyx's not swollen yet really either. So I'm thinking probably a couple weeks to a month for 3 of them and add 2-3 more weeks for the slow poke.

Looking forward to smoking my own homegrown for once. Just want to make sure I don't screw it up...lol. So please feel free to chime in and let me know if I'm on the right track or if I need to provide more info.

They will let you know grampa. It does looks like some are closer. More information like medium ,feeding light schedule brings in the experts.

rijkmus1 said:

They will let you know grampa. It does looks like some are closer. More information like medium ,feeding light schedule brings in the experts.

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Thanks for the reply - much appreciated

Here's the rundown - let me know if I left anything out.

Seeds were ILGM GG4 auto.

1. AC Infinity 3x3x7.

2. 4 x Unit Farm UFS3000 (1 per plant @ 200 true watts each) - 15/9 light cycle.

3. Black Gold Natural and Organic potting mix in 5 gal fabric pots.

4. RO/distilled water only.

5. Earth Dust Base to get the soil ready - cooked for a month. Top fed with Earth Dust Boost after flower started. Added last feeding of ED Boost last week to the 3 more mature plants. Will hold off a couple weeks on the slow poke.

6. Advanced Nutrients ph Perfect Connoiseur Grow and Bloom (parts A & B for both).

7. Pure Protein Dry 15-1-1 (started in flower @ 1 tsp/gal every other week).

8. Brer Rabbit Unsulphered Molasses (started in flower @ 1 tsp/gal every other week -- I feed it same day right after the PPD 15-1-1).

9. Feed schedule has been pretty much every 3rd or 4th day with a few exceptions. I alternate feedings with Advanced Nutrients and the PPD/Molasses.

10. Day and night temps have been about 72-80F with rh @ 40-50%.

11. I either had some kind of deficiency with the largest plant or she got some light burn on her fan leaves. Early in flower she took off like a rabbit and she outpaced the other plants growth by double and I think I was just underfeeding her. I was trying to be careful about over watering and I don't think she wasn't getting the amount she needed.

12. I went ahead and raised the lights since then also just in case it was light burn. They were definitely too close so it could have been a combination of things. Now getting approx 700-800 PAR and 40-50 DLI at canopy top. From reading, I think I need to back this off a bit the closer they get to harvest.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice for an old cheap ass to get his girls to the finish line - nice place ya got here!

Its awesome seeing older people get into growing. These boards seem to have alot of youngsters. Your grow looks good some of the autos I've ran have been great smoke I had a samsquanch og that was so good but it pissed me off that I can't clone her. If you go with some stable fem photos at least for the first few grows just to dial in your environment I believe your experience will be better all around. I couldn't imagine the nightmare of dialing in a new grow room (or a first timmer) using autos. Again I don't hate on autos I just thing marketing is a bit conflicting with reality.

You did your homework. You are going to get to the finish line. I can tell you that later is better than to early. The leafy plant back left has a darker color. Close up of the buds will help. I don't know about autos. But I assume that they can have different phenos also.

You still have a ways to go. Are you really running 800 watts in a 3x3?

Fallguy111 said:

If you go with some stable fem photos

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Yeah, I wanted to go the fem route for clones but the electric situation here is iffy. Outages are getting more frequent every year here and I've had the lights not come back on after the power comes back on...breaker trips instead...so going with autos for now. Going to relocate in next year so hopefully will be better power-wise where I'm going.

rijkmus1 said:

You did your homework. You are going to get to the finish line. I can tell you that later is better than to early. The leafy plant back left has a darker color. Close up of the buds will help. I don't know about autos. But I assume that they can have different phenos also.

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Thanks...I try to do most things without too much hand holding but homework can only get you so far....so reaching out to those with more experience.

Yeah from what I understand, different phenos with autos are very common. Mine are all from the same batch of seeds.

Here's some bud and trich pics. Buds from this morning. Trichs from yesterday.

grampus_maximus said:

Thanks...I try to do most things without too much hand holding but homework can only get you so far....so reaching out to those with more experience.

Yeah from what I understand, different phenos with autos are very common. Mine are all from the same batch of seeds.

Here's some bud and trich pics. Buds from this morning. Trichs from yesterday.

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Looking good.

Dependable electricity is a good thing especially for indoor growing. Your plants are in good shape. You would have to do something really stupid to hurt them now.

Keep them going. Maybe cut a little piece of and try some if your itchy.

Nope_49595933949 said:

You still have a ways to go. Are you really running 800 watts in a 3x3?

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Thanks, I was thinking probably about a month on 3 of them and 5-6 weeks on the last one.

And yep....running 800 watts in a 3x3....am I crazy? I wanted wall to wall coverage and probably way overdid it....lol.

But the lights were cheap enough at $50 a pop so I bought a few extras. And one good thing about these lights is that they come with a detached driver and a long power cord so you can keep them and their heat outside the grow tent. I have them secured to an old metal rack.

Looking great, especially for your first attempt.

If that tip burn just started you may need to do some adjusting, if its old then you're likely fine.

You have more wattage here than I ever had in my 4x4 but at 15/9 you are probably fine.

Synganics is a hard one to prefect.

You are definitely looking at 4+ weeks on your bigger girls.

grampus_maximus said:

Thanks, I was thinking probably about a month on 3 of them and 5-6 weeks on the last one.

And yep....running 800 watts in a 3x3....am I crazy? I wanted wall to wall coverage and probably way overdid it....lol.

But the lights were cheap enough at $50 a pop so I bought a few extras. And one good thing about these lights is that they come with a detached driver and a long power cord so you can keep them and their heat outside the grow tent. I have them secured to and old metal rack.

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Wow, I'd raise the lights all the way up or even run just 2.

Marq1340 said:

Looking great, especially for your first attempt.

If that tip burn just started you may need to do some adjusting, if its old then you're likely fine.

You have more wattage here than I ever had in my 4x4 but at 15/9 you are probably fine.

Synganics seems is a hard one to prefect.

You are definitely looking at 4+ weeks on your bigger girls.

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Thanks...yeah, it looks like the 2 smaller girls will be done first. It may be 6 weeks or so for the leafy queen. She started fast but slowed down to a crawl and then just exploded with new growth after a couple weeks of nothing.

The tip burn is old I think. You can see it starting in these early pics but mostly on the big girl.



It's a strange brew that I have going here for sure with the organic and synthetic mix but it really hasn't given me any problems....yet. I used the Advanced Nutrients stuff because of the ph balance built into it.

But I am planning to stick with organics from now on. I like working with soil and Earth Dust makes it easy. Will drop the Advanced Nutrients and am going to add Sea-90 for trace elements and will continue to use the PPD 15-1-1 (it got my plants back to a good darker green color).

I found a great local source for the Sea-90 at $25/50 lb bag so picking up 4 bags tomorrow. A local farmer bought a tractor trailer load for his farm. He's almost 80 and he said he hasn't ever used anything that raised the Brix value of his crops like this has...so going to add it with the Earth dust base to cook in the soil for a month before using.

What do you think about using Earth Dust with the PPD and Sea-90?

Nope_49595933949 said:

Wow, I'd raise the lights all the way up or even run just 2.

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They're raised all the way up for the last few weeks. They're at 24 inches above the 2 taller plants and 36 inches above the 2 shorter plants.

I'm using Photone on my phone to measure PAR and DLI now. Before I knew about Photone, there's no doubt the intensity was way too strong when the lights were lower. I had them at 12 inches above the canopy then.

There really wasn't any heat from the lights on the tops of the plants but the light was too intense. The PAR and DLI readings are more normal now.

I was doing 1100+ PAR and close to 70 DLI....bad juju I think unless your running CO2 also.



Next grow I'm doing 4 more plants but only 2 plants per tent instead of 4, so I'll just use 2 lights per tent then for sure. Is side lighting any good for lower buds? I've thought about getting some lower wattage lights for side lights.

rijkmus1 said:

Maybe cut a little piece of and try some if your itchy.

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I can say with some certainty that this will happen

rijkmus1 said:

You would have to do something really stupid to hurt them now.

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I have done some real "joe-bob" stuff in my day for sure. Learning things the hard way sucks so I've learned to ask if I don't know the answer

Well I am no expert in lighting but 1100 sounds high. Bugsby say you can't give to much light. But the plant has to have everything available to use it. I am smoking my first indoor grow. I am high so I will post a pic.

rijkmus1 said:

Well I am no expert in lighting but 1100 sounds high.

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What pretty girls you have....what strain are they?

1100 is really high...lol. That's what my plants were getting before I learned about PAR, DLI and Photone. Bugsby is very smart about pot. I think he says anything above 900-1000 is going to waste unless you use co2 with it.

I raised the lights up a while back and now my girls are getting 700-800 PAR and 40-50 DLI. I think the intensity was burning up the big girl...she's happier now

I'm fixing to smoke myself, then go outside with my pups for awhile. It's absolutely gorgeous outside today!