Window sill grow

The two Dr Jack Auto clones have reached day 22.

They seem very happy by the window. Both now have five nodes, so it will be time for some LST to keep them from getting too tall. I will possibly be taking one of these into a tent to try and make her into a "male" and collect some pollen.

Here are the two clones after being bent over away from the light.

Dr Jack Auto clones 4 & 5 are at day 18 and have rooted successfully. They've been potted up and joined their sisters at the window.

Here are the four clones by the window, lapping up some sun. Their mum is behind them on the left.

Day 77 for the Dr Jack Auto.

Still no sign of flowering. And the brown leaf spots are back on older fan leaves, which eventually are so affected they start to droop and die. This latter is more concerning to me, as it seems to be persistent, regardless of watering regime, nutrients, temperatures, sunshine or none. A few days ago I removed all the affected leaves, and now another batch of leaves are affected. Not only that, but the older clones (Day 29 from cutting) are both affected as well. Younger clones (Day 23) are unaffected so far. I've pretty much ruled out overwatering now, as I've been more careful about checking soil moisture since the early grow. So I have a real problem here. I don't really know what is causing it. Some possibilities:

- Windowsill environment just not suitable for this strain, too high a difference between day and night temperatures, soil stays too moist, or something like that.

- Fungal or bacterial infection of some kind.

- Pests. Nothing visible on leaves, inspected with magnifying glass. But maybe something is attacking roots? Haven't spotted any fungus gnats but not ruling it out.

- Nutrient burn? Not impossible as the compost has John Innes in it, which contains some fertiliser. Leaf tips are not dying off though.

- Nutrient lockout or deficiency? I did give all the plants a dose of MaxiCrop a week ago or so, maybe this has caused nute lockout? I water with dechlorinated water, but I'm in a soft water area, so maybe a Cal/Mag deficiency?

Anyway, some pics below show the extent of the problem. Anybody have any ideas how to sort this other than just binning the lot?

At first glance, plants seem healthy enough:



But on closer inspection you see the brown leaf spots:



What can I do about this???

It doesn't really look like a cal-mag def, but it sort of does....so I would likely give it a bit of cal-mag just because I can't think of anything else it could be....hopefully someone else may have a better perspective

Yeah, this is what I was leaning towards, or maybe a pest of some sort.

Day 84 for the Dr Jack “Auto” by the window.

No flowers. Just vegging. The original plant is nicely bushy now, compared to the earlier tall version pre-topping. She is 78cm tall at the highest point.

The two older clones are 36 days from cuttings going into soil, and I have trained them by tying down twice so far. They’re about ready to tie down once more. Some side nodes have grown extra tops along the curled stems, resulting in low, bushier plants. No flowers from them either.

The two younger clones are 30 days old and have done something curious. I just let them grow, and they’ve kind of “topped” themselves, i.e. there are multiple tops growing past a certain point rather than just one. Interesting but quite welcome, as they’re broader and maybe shorter than they would have been otherwise. No flowers there either.

There are another two clones in the propagator, hopefully rooting. Another four cuttings still in the fridge…

I’ve had a lot on this week, so delayed any decisions on this lot. They’ve just been watered, plus a bit of MaxiCrop, as the soil was a bit dry. The single Blumat for the big mum plant seems to be working fine.

One of the four by the window will be put in a tent on 12/12, and I’ll try to reverse it using colloidal silver. Haven’t set up the tent yet but hopefully soon. As for the others, I looked into putting some of them outdoors, but I don’t think they’ll survive the climate at this latitude. If these are photos or “very stubborn” autos, with daylight still nearly 17 hours here, they’ll not be flowering for maybe another two months!

The shorter plants could possibly go into the cabinet once my current grow is completed. That’s a few weeks off though. In the meantime, I’m guessing they’ll continue to just veg. Now that the mum has regained her vigour I might have to start tying tops down to keep her a bit shorter. She can then probably stay at the window until she decides to flower. Maybe some pruning here or there if she’s still vegging in a month’s time…

Despite the earlier issues with the mum growing too tall, and the intermittent leaf spots, this has been an interesting grow for me. I’ve learned a fair bit about plant development, and practiced my cloning skills. Ended up with a lot more plants than planned for, but without much in the way of extra costs that’s not a big problem. Except for lack of space…

One thing I’m taking away from this summer is just what can be done with a single seed!

Did a bit more LST yesterday for the four clones. Lovely lemon scent coming off the stems. One of the two younger clones by the window went into a tent tonight on 12/12. I'll be trying to reverse that into a "male", to collect pollen.

I put the two clones from the propagator (Nos. 7 & by the window in its place. Tomorrow I'll get a couple more cuttings from the fridge, prep them and put in the propagator.

A fair old assembly line going now!

Pretty much decided that the remaining three at the window will go in the cabinet after current grow is done, probably in a couple of weeks' time. Might do a three plant ScrOG. The only uncertainty is what to do with the original plant. She is getting bigger every day.

I can either:

- Chuck her outside in a guerrilla spot and let her take her chances. Come back and see how she gets on the next few months

- Use her as a Mum. Continue to top and prune her and use the cuttings as clones.

I'm kinda leaning towards the latter at the moment, but will need to get growing the resulting clones in tents. Would put a couple in my polytunnel but too obviously cannabis, not stealthy enough. Also likely to get really big!

Thinking about this grow further, if these girls are indeed photos or "light sensitive" autos. then there's next to no chance they'll flower by the window. Too many sources of light interrupting the dark period: lights in the room or hallway, and street lights outside. So tents/cabinet will be the only feasible way I reckon.

Here’s an update on the situation by the window.

I seem to recall saying back in May or thereabouts that I was going to keep it simple this summer. Just grow one plant, I said. Don’t overcomplicate things. Well. That worked!

I now have six plants by the window, another in a tent which I’m trying to make pollen from. Yet another cutting rooting in the propagator. The windowsill grow has got a bit out of hand. All because of an “auto” that refuses to flower. So I started experimenting with cuttings, cloning and so on. And here we are.

Dr Jack “Auto” is at Day 93. 93 days and not a single bud. She is much bushier than before, true. I got what I wanted there, But she’s big, and getting bigger every day. I’ve been really busy this past week, so just letting the window girls get on with it. Now I have to start making some decisions. Nice as she looks, I can’t keep such a big beast by the window. I’ll either have to prune her back, or chuck her outside somewhere, or just chop and use the leaves and stalks for something.

The three older clones keep growing. I gave them some extra training today to try and keep them low. Clones 2 and 3 are now 45 days old, and Clone 4 is at 39 days. These will be going in the cabinet on 12/12 in maybe a week to ten days’ time. I might have to prune/top them a bit before that.

Clones 6 and 7 are at Day 20. I’ll probably top both of them next week, and try and keep them short. They’ll go into the small tent probably next month after the current grow there has been harvested. They could be joined by Clone 8 if it roots successfully.

So probably by September the windowsill grow will be over and done with, because it will have morphed into a couple of grows under lights. Which will take me up to November to flower, most likely.

Just need to figure out what to do with this big girl that mothered all the clones…

Hm, just had a brainwave about the big girl.

I can continue to prune her back brutally, then move her (plus maybe a few new clones) to the polytunnel once the current auto has finished. That would be early September most likely. The reducing daylight might help to induce flowering, and the polytunnel would shelter the plant(s) from the worst of the cold, the rain and wind. No light pollution there either. Harvest in late October?

Sounds like a plan...

Realistically I'll have to get some plants in the polytunnel sooner rather than later. Sometime this month if I want to harvest in October. So the younger clones, plus the one rooting in the propagator, would probably go there. I'll prune back the big girl soon, take cuttings to root for placing in the small tent sometime in September. Then put the cut back big girl in the polytunnel, where she'll continue to veg for the best part of a month probably before hopefully flowering... I'm going to chop her back quite severely so I can keep her relatively small.

Dr Jack "Auto" is at Day 98.

She's continuing her vegathon. Now around one metre tall, and about the same wide. I can only imagine what kind of size she would have reached if not topped several times and pruned back. Speaking of which, that will have to be done again soon, as she's just too big to be kept anywhere remotely visible to passersby. She'll be heading to the polytunnel fairly soon, and just to transport her there will need to be at least half her current size. So a pretty brutal pruning is going to happen soon.

Her clones are behind her and growing quickly. The two smallest ones will maybe join her in the polytunnel after they've been topped.

Today I topped and pruned the three older clones along the windowsill. This was to get them shorter and more compact, ready for going in the cabinet. That will probably be at the weekend, depending on how quickly the current grow finishes.

Then I topped the two younger clones, and topped / pruned back the big girl. Those three will be going into the polytunnel soon.

Possibly by next week there will not be anything growing by the window, except a few cuttings trying to root.

I took the two youngest Dr Jack "Auto" clones to the polytunnel and popped them on the table. They're just in 1 litre yoghurt pots at the moment. Having been topped recently, I'll wait to see some more growth before maybe potting up to something larger. I'm looking forward to seeing how they get on in this new environment. They should at least get more light, for longer. The bigger Mum plant will be joining them next visit.

On the weekend (or possibly next week) the youngest of the three clones by the window will go in a tent on 12/12. I will hope to use pollen collected from the reversed clone to create S1 seeds. The two older clones will be going in the cabinet this weekend on 12/12. I will do a two plant ScrOG with those girls. Their Mum will be going to the polytunnel later today.

I have numerous cuttings sitting in pots of water just now, will select half a dozen to root, and the same again to bag up and store in fridge "just in case". Any clones resulting will veg at the window for a few weeks, then once my grow in another tent has been chopped, two or three will go in there for a vertical ScrOG grow.

Had a quick check round the various slips from the ladyboy and there's already a fair of pollen I could chuck at a female. So the youngest clone by the window has been put in the tent where the ladyboy was.

Another new arrival this evening at the polytunnel. The original Dr Jack "Auto" has joined two of her clones. She's an incredible 104 days old, and looking a bit the worse for the severe pruning she had before coming here. However new leaf buds have formed and hopefully she'll settle into her new home comfortably. I misted all three plants with peroxide solution, and gave them a soil drench of the same. This was because I was concerned that the leaf spots on all three might be caused by fungus, bacteria, gnats or mites and didn't want anything spreading to other plants in the polytunnel. I'll be repotting the two clones at some point fairly soon, but the new ones won't be huge, to try and keep the girls relatively compact.

Regular Saturday update on the situation at the windowsill.

Dr Jack "Auto" clones 2 & 3 are 57 days old. Vegging nicely in the sunshine. This might be their last day by the window, as they will probably go into the cabinet today on 12/12 to flower.

Clone 8 is on day 16, I decided to put her on the windowsill yesterday and see how she copes. Been a bit slow to root this one, but she seems to be surviving if a little droopy. I'm taking the sink or swim approach with this girl, as I can't be bothered coddling any more.

I have a huge bunch of cuttings to sort out, and will try to root half a dozen, and put the same number in the fridge as backups.

I've decided to delay the cabinet harvest for a week, so Clones 2 & 3 will be vegging for a while more by the window...

Potted up six cuttings in my new larger propagator. We'll see which ones root, and I'll select two or three to grow on. I've selected a further half dozen as backups that are going in the fridge.