1st Time Grow, DWC Tub with 2 Autoflowering Lowryder #2/Ak47

[MileHighGuy]

Ive heard and seen people grow plants from 12/12 and never do the 18/6 or 24/0
with good results.
But if it where me I rather have nice big plants then go 12/12.
But again I'm not that knowledgeable of auto flowering plants, I'm sorry for that bro!
As for the conversion bulb yes they are worth it as far as I know, mainly b/c of the money you save not buying a HPS ballast. One thing is to make sure before you buy is that the the clearance of the bulb your going to buy has clearance so not to hit your reflector on the MH ballast reflector and the bulb wattage, you can get a bulb that is under wattage of your ballast but not over. I'm probably not telling you anything new I was just making sure nothing was overlooked Bro ~Vince

Thanks for the input... I always appreciate it!

I'm going to make sure I find the right bulb before I order.

As of Today, all four in the DWC have extended roots down a couple of inches into the water...

The Ph was a little high today considering I just added Nutes two days ago...

I'm going to watch it for a week or so... then do a reservoir change with a Regular Nutrient Dose.

 

[cyber echo]

Greetings mate, watching this grow. Why didnt you LST these plants ? They seem to be getting a bit tall, and they seem bushy which would make em benefit well from LST.

The plants are still green enough to LST, but if you do intend on doing it give them a good watering prior to bending and do it in small increments daily over a week.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Greetings mate, watching this grow. Why didnt you LST these plants ? They seem to be getting a bit tall, and they seem bushy which would make em benefit well from LST.

The plants are still green enough to LST, but if you do intend on doing it give them a good watering prior to bending and do it in small increments daily over a week.

I probably should have.... truth be told I only planned on running the lowryder's so I didn't research low stress training. I suppose I could start the LST right now while the lowryder's grow.

But the main stem seems to be fairly thick and might snap if I start bending like crazy... Any suggestions on LST for these two mature plants?

They are starting to get to close to the light and I cant raise because of the lowryders...

 

[MileHighGuy]

38 Days later

38 Days later

It's been over a month since I started this post...

I've learned sooo much since day 1.

I bought lowryder/ak47 and killed everyone of them...

That was awesome.

Now... I have two HUGE females that will be fun to taste in about 2 months....

AND.... I successfully germed 7 out of 10 lowryder variety seeds and all 7 are looking great.

Next is finding the females and switching to flower...

I can't wait.

Hopefully in about 38 more days I will be learning to harvest....

I can already tell that It will be near impossible to wait for the dry and cure... haha might have to powerdry a couple of popcorn nugs.

One concern though, my buddy recently harvested his first grow and 4 out of 6 plants were killed by a pest infestation.

Are there any preventitive measures that I can take to avoid this problem? He was in a garage.... I'm inside the house.

 

[MileHighGuy]

this morning I found a Pincher bug looking thing in one of my soil Lowryder pots... WTF?

Should I start doing some preventative spraying? I don't want anything to be there in two weeks when I start flowering.

Any suggestions?

 

[mobudda]

You're setup looks nice, but you may want to be careful about the heat from the 400 watt on the seedlings.

Also you need to buy some NON-feminized seeds or non AF seeds because you can't clone autoflowers and you can't get seeds from all females.

Normally with the autoflower strains people purposely allow the best male to pollinate which gives you hundreds of seeds at the end.

However, in the long run I suggest moving to a nice stable, high quality, non autoflower plant. You can control the height of any plant. You could get Nirvana AK47 and just bloom it early and train it down or go for the genetics and get Serious Seeds or an African Sativa from somewhere. The result is you have more control over your plant, better quality bud and higher yield. The only downside is slightly more management in switching from veg/bloom and having to potentially crop or train the plant. SCROG is a tried and true method for training any plant to any size grow.

The bonus is you can take cuttings and clone your best plants rather than keep buying feminized seeds or having to make your own seeds. Autoflower strains have increased in quality a lot, they are in general looked down upon by the veteran growers.

I think autoflower plants only make sense outdoors because if you take the time to setup as you have done, you're not saving but 2 weeks of time or so and you have less control, less yield and less bud with autoflower. Outdoors the big problems all have to do with exposure. The longer the plant is outdoors the higher the chance it will be found or die. So the greatly reduced flower time lets you run several patches during the spring and summer months and even fall for some areas. Since each run is only 2 months and the plants are smaller you have a much lessened chance to lose the plants.

The downfall, of course, is that you can't have female clones ready to put out, but it's worth it because cops mostly look for plants during the known harvest period between late September to early November, depending on strain and climate. The cops focus most of their efforts when the plants are the largest and easiest to spot, so autoflowers kind of bypass their ideal methodology. The shorter grow period also means you don't have to make many, if any return trips before harvest, beside routing out males of course.

For indoors I would pretty much never select an autoflower, even as the first grow, there is nothing complex about switching your light cycle and beyond that it's pretty much the same exact song and dance as growing an autoflower.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Thanks MoBudda.

I chose autoflower for 1 reason.

Quick buds.

Next time, I will certainly go for some good stuff.

I didn't have any clones available and had to go for the QUICKEST from seed to harvest regardless of quality.

The two big plants in the picture were a gift after the fact from a friend.

The 400w is doing great, and the little guys are loving it. I have the fan on and the water is at around 70 degrees.

Just finished a Res Change today with a slight increase in Nutes because the PH was dropping and the plants were loving the nutes.

Anyhow... they look great now.

 

[socbutter]

@ mobudda

Thanks for the common sense on the autoflower, but being a noob grower I wanted a quick no hassle grow with stealth qualities and no bugs.

I like to started one in my lanai,but here in Florida we have lots of bugs! AND they get through the enclosed screened of my lanai.

I grew some flowering bushes in pots in the lanai last summer and it was a struggle keep the white bugs off.


@ MileHighGuy

love your grow,

subscribed

 

[MileHighGuy]

So I took the two Big Plants.... plus two other small bagseed plants outside on my deck today and Hope that this will start the flowering process.

They have been under 24/0 since seeds... think they will flower on my deck... we get GREAT sun all day.

I can't believe I didn't do this sooner! Now I have SOOO much room for my hydro setup.

I lowered the light a few inches above the Lowryders.
Then Moved them Directly under the 400w/MH since there aren't any Big plants in there to steal the light, I think they will be much better.

Let me know if I should Do anything different with the two that I put outside... I will start the flowering nutes tomorrow... I can't wait to see my first flowers forming.

Wish me luck!

 

[MileHighGuy]

One more thing!

It get's pretty windy here... Should I worry?

 

[MileHighGuy]

Sooo... I put my two big plants outside...

The smaller is doing great...

The bigger has snapped limbs all over the place... I splinted and taped and am hoping for a healthy recovery.. Damn Wind.. I should have known better.

Anyways..

Updated Pics - 27 days since they were germed - (20-25 days since they popped through)

There are ridges on the top of my DWC lid.. and it leaves a small gap that bugs are flying into and dying.... Other than having to do a weekly reservoir change... do you think it will cause any problems?

See the dead bugs in the roots -->

 

[toastfighter2]

I would definatly do something about the bugs, even one of those sticky traps would help, because bugs can carry disease's(not just for you, but your plants too)

 

[dontae1000]

no offense mile high but i really get a smile on my face when someone grows with hid lights, and hydro equip and special additives and end up with 3 inch plants at 3 weeks......nothin personal

 

[MileHighGuy]

Small Ass Plants

Small Ass Plants

no offense mile high but i really get a smile on my face when someone grows with hid lights, and hydro equip and special additives and end up with 3 inch plants at 3 weeks......nothin personal

LMAO...

I know, I know.... It's my fault for going with Lowryder's.... then leaving the damn door closed with 85-90 degree temps and 85-95 degree water for the first week..

Anyways.

Next time will be better... But right now... I'm seeing TONS of new roots start to pop through the bottom.

I did a Reservoir change and scrubbed the crap out of my tub inside with soap and water...

Things seem to be doing alot better...

They haven't started showing sex yet... which IMO is good because that means that they do have some time to catch up in size before they stop vegging.

Shit.. Can you imagine having HID lighting, hydro with Nutes and only getting a couple of grams...

I'm planning on starting some fresh good strains outdoors this week so that when my lowryders are done, I'll have something else right behind them.

If all Goes well... I am planning for:

1. 4-5 Lowryder females with at least one ounce each in about 5 weeks.

2. At least 2-4 ounces each off of my Big Plants that are outdoors in about 8 weeks.

3. If I start now, I could start flowering some GOOD strains a couple weeks after I cut the lowryders.

AND.. Next time.... I will be ordering a water chiller.

 

[toastfighter2]

You could get some clones started rooting, and veg them for 2-3 weeks and toss them in there with the autos. They will be done and out of the way(the autos) before they end up blocking too much light, and you will have a jump start on your next grow. Don't feel too bad about only getting a couple grams per plant, I only get between a quarter to a half from every one(perpetual mini sog, one in one out every week and about to double that up.)

 

[MileHighGuy]

You could get some clones started rooting, and veg them for 2-3 weeks and toss them in there with the autos. They will be done and out of the way(the autos) before they end up blocking too much light, and you will have a jump start on your next grow. Don't feel too bad about only getting a couple grams per plant, I only get between a quarter to a half from every one(perpetual mini sog, one in one out every week and about to double that up.)

Thanks for the Positivity... it's always appreciated.

I think I should do just fine.. they haven't started showing sex yet and I think they are about to explode.. Based on the new root growth in the DWC.

 

[MileHighGuy]

This is a Female Right? I think it's about to show pistils

This is a Female Right? I think it's about to show pistils

I put this plant outside a few days ago... it was under 24/0 HPS lighting...

After a few days, I started to see this new growth....

This is my first grow... so I'm not sure what I'm looking at.

 

[MileHighGuy]

Just threw some Dinafem Blue Hash and California hash into a shotglass with RO water and tomorrow I'm putting into peat pellets

I'm going to grow in FFOF soil on my deck..

 

[MileHighGuy]

Both dinafem seeds had FAT tails when i checked the shotglass this morning... So I skipped the Paper towel and put straight into peat pellets.

In a few days they will be transplanted and put outside on my deck to Veg.

I guess I will start a new post for those... since they are nothing like my lowryder's.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Peace

 

[Spacecadet01]

nice first show...im pullin up a chair!