Am I behind schedule Day 20 (No Nutes) Autoflower

@Docnraq
Do you actually remove budsites? After I get my canopy growing evenly I’m planning on cutting anything below the canopy but you’re suggestingto even remove spores too close to the stalk? Even if they’re getting proper light?

I do this. Nothing further then 2/3 from the top is getting propper light. Outdoors sure indoors, no way.

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@Docnraq
As always thanks for the assistance. While I have a a decent common sense to growing things I also like to try new things as most of us growers do but if I can keep from finding out the hard way I’m something I’m not completely sure if I’ll take it.

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I grew up in the Okanagan, so spent a few summers working in orchards. Things you learn about trees are also applicable to growing cannabis.
For instance, peach trees…you thin out any sucker growth in the middle of the tree, it won’t produce much fruit, and you try and get the light to penetrate into the tree to ripen the peaches. Just like pot! Try and keep the middle open for the light.
Apples…when they are a bit smaller than golf balls, you go around the tree and thin out the clusters of 3’s and 4’s down to 1’s and 2’s. This lets the plant direct all of its energy into half the fruit it originally had, so that those remaining grow bigger. And prevent rubbing. But just like cannabis, removing the excess that will rob all bud sites leaving the primo areas and buds will make what you have left that much bigger.
Have you ever seen a really old dilapidated orchard? Or wild trees that haven’t been cared for? Branches growing everywhere, and where there is fruit, it’s usually small and gnarly looking? Not like you’d find in the store, or something that you’d want to eat? Same idea, sacrifice the stuff that won’t get enough light to amount to much so that the plant can redirect that energy into that which remains!

Outside grows, not as important to get rid of the lower stuff, since sunlight penetrates the entire plant, and the strength of the light at the top of the plant is the same as at the bottom. (sunlight at top of the plant is from 93,000,000 miles away, while at the bottom, it’s 93,000,000 miles and 6 feet!). With artificial light, the energy of the light drops significantly with that additional distance, so the bottom ones don’t get “quality” energy and are just wasting the plant’s energy.

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Looks very healthy and pretty much on time.

Yes, I know it must look small to you, but remember you are on the brink of explosive growth.

The rule of thumb that I use is that during veg stage the leaf mass (square inches if you like) doubles every 5 days. Exponential growth… A pea sized emerging plant gets to he 2 peas… But imagine yours also twice as big in 5 days too.

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Anytime my friend, Just promise me you’ll pass it on!

Solid knowledge comin from @Spudgunner and @VirginiaGrowBoy up there above this post.

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@VirginiaGrowBoy @Spudgunner @Docnraq

I Knew I was at the very least healthy just looked so much further behind everyone which I know I know it’s almost a golden rule not to compare to other grows but there still some benefit. I don’t want to remove any more leaves than necessary because I want to absorb as much sun as possible but being new and seeing all the different methods can be overwhelming. At least with autos I’m going to stick to LST and and either tuck/defoliate when necessary. And I’m hoping that I can share my knowledge and experiences with everyone possible. I really want to get into the cannabis industry and eventually have a grow op but I need to learn how to grow to have a decent chance at getting my foot in that door I feel. All I want to do is mess with some plants and talk to people about it all day. To the point i obviously came here searching for anyone to talk to. But here’s tonight’s pics! Turned off the light just for you Doc lol





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I see what you mean.

For me personally, the “book learning” was half of the battle. The second half just came from real experience with a few challenging grows… staying humble and learning all along the way from these amazing growers here.

You:ll get it and after a few grows, your knowledge and confidence will be leaps and bounds ahead of where you are today.

Good luck and enjoy the journey.

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@Docnraq
I hunger for more knowledge lol. She’s getting bushy, and it’s getting hard to make sure everything is getting light. I’d say we’re still above 95% getting light but I’m curious as to when I could clip a leaf or two? From what I’ve read it’s usually early weeks of flower and no more than 20% per week. I don’t plan on doing anything near that severe just maybe one or two since they’re blocking 2-3 little sets underneath it. Plus they’re only 3 fans instead of 5 like the ones they’re covering idk if that matters. Also I decided to go ahead and LST my Blue Lights bc the trifoliacy as I’m going to call it to fit my needs lol but basically those big leaves weren’t allowing anything down low so it seemed like the right time but I just don’t know how it’s going to go at this point since it’s so close to the edge. Help meh daddeh :joy::joy:


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You could do some SELECTIVE defoliation, today, if you want. 1 or 2. Just keep in mind that they are like solar panels. 1 thing I do, sometimes, is remove whatever finger is blocking the shoot and leave the rest of the leaf. Its often the middle one.

The 2nd week of flower is a good time for defoliation. 2 tips. 1) NEVER take more then 1/3 of the total leaves in any one cutting session.
2) haircuts are stressful for your lady. ALWAYS haircut and feed on the same day. When they are stressed they drink and having nutrient freshly and readily available.

Your plant looks healthy but to be sure I looked up a couple things and came up with this…


It could be the stress of being tied down, or it occured to me that maybe being so low in the pot that there is a little stale air there between the soil and the top of the pot. Either way she will be up and outta all that real soon. Check make sure your fans put a breeze in that space and if not adjust it a lil. Otherwize I dont think you have anything to worry about.

Train her where you want her to go. Make the main do a spiral around the pot . Or, Let her get taller and then just bend her diagonal across to the other side. No mater how you twist her, the leaves will readjust.

Follow that. Worst thing can happen is you learn something, its also the best thing that can happen from following that intuition. Win/Win.

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@Docnraq

Mwahahaha I’ve figured it out. I’ll probably try this as it achieves the best of both worlds. I have a few leaves that are kind of smushed together so they creat a /\ which is what it is but some of them no matter how I train them I have to sacrifice the 2 nodes or just hide the entire leaf. What I have been doing with my pins though is I use some wire cutters to cut them in half and then I bend the ends to make a loop so 1. I have more pins 2. In makes it saves space and 3. I can still twist them on a branch where I want it to curve and it holds fairly well. I also have a curled pin and uncurled pin I use to move and tuck stuff which I plan on getting a rubber sleeve or maybe even taping the ends bc I accidentally ripped two leaves the other day :sweat_smile::sweat_smile:

This is definitely something I was starting to look at today just bc of how bushy she’s getting but my fans is pointing at a downward angle so while it probably isn’t getting as much air as it should now, it’s at least getting some, and up until these past few days hasn’t been a concern. I’ve repositioned my fan a few times to ensure I have the best airflow for both plants and circulation but it’s probably time for a second fan for what’s about to come. But all of my new growth is 5 fan it’s the older growth that are 3’s. Now I did move the plant closer to the light a total of about 16 inches closer but that’s because I wasn’t aware I wasn’t in the proper range and she’s been praying ever since. But it seems to be everything that’s growing off of the stalk is 3 leaf and everything coming from those is 5 leaf.

Makes me moister than an oyster that you said this bc this is what I was going to do. I assumed they would since I’ve seen a couple people talk about it but it just feels so weird being a new grower I’m sure you had similar feelings starting out. It’s something so simple that makes complete sense yet it’s so fascinating all at the same time. It’s amazing.

Normally I’m really insecure about almost everything I do and unsure of myself but something about growing cannabis just feels right. I feel like I have a sort of connection with the plant as crazy as that sounds. Also I accidentally got nutes on my leaves and didn’t dab them off and it just dried and that won’t happen again bc I tried spraying my leaves with some water and dabbing it with toilet paper like I normally do when I accidentally spray them but then of course what I can only assume was the trichomes ripped off the wet toilet paper bc when it dried I had a little toilet paper on basically all of my leaves I had to wipe off with my fingers which sucked but my fingers smelled absolutely amazing. I could’ve smelled them all day lol I can’t wait for the real trichs.

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Then no worries at all.

Next time you plant a seed, fill the pot up to the top. After a few waterings, it will sink in some.

Not at all. I name mine even. Talk to em while I work on em. Gardening is the one place in life where I am not locked in my thoughts.

When training work the bends in slowly, twist the stem a lil to loosen it up. Sometimes I move in segments. Twist and turn, tie it down next day bend even further. Over and over until its in place.
Once everything is in place and she is starting to stretch out, give her some silica to harden everything up.

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@Docnraq
So what’s the earliest you’ve ever sexed a plant? Bc I’ve heard as early as 21 days but I’ve had a stigma since day 18 which I feel is crazy fast. Like I’ve just now noticed some on my Wedding Cake, Day 35 which is awesome bc I have both females, at least for now, but does it matter when stigmas show up? Or for a better arrangement of words have you noticed a difference in plants based off of when they show stigmas? At first I thought it meant preflower but there’s now way im preflower on day 18. It’s day 20 now but I can see it in my pictures 2 days ago too I just though they were a node developing.

Autoflowers are unpredictable that way. The first pistils are a sign of sexual maturity.

I didnt know you could even buy auto seeds that arent feminized.

Yes, it hearlds the change in maturity.

It does. Autos man, they do what they want when they want. Its part of why ill be switching to photoperiod very soon.

Yes when its really early, the plantbdoesnt get very tall.

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From Seedsman…

Buy Regular Autoflower Cannabis Seeds Online

Regular autoflower cannabis seeds are autoflowers without the feminised genetic as standard, meaning you get all the benefits of regular cannabis seeds as autoflowers.

They do sell them, I guess for folks that want to cross their own strains an create their own seeds. So when ordering, make sure you choose Feminized Autos (unless you DO want the 50/50 chance of a male!)

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Its more like 80/20 male to female.

@Docnraq

I didn’t know you could either but I’m pretty sure hermies are still possible correct even though they can handle more stress than photos without switching correct? I just don’t have the setup to be able to control things as well as I should in terms of light still getting in while it’s lights off so i was just kind of worried to be honest.

I want to do this so bad later on down the road when I’ve gotten more experience and proper phenos so it’s nice to know I could play with autos like that.

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Yes always possible to hermie BUT, hermies are rare. It just seems like it is common. Look at it like this, far more sucessful non hermied plants then hermied ones. You wont find threads saying MY plant didnt hermie, but you will find threads saying HELP my plants hermied! When it comes to the internet…what ye seek, so ye shall find!

No on the more stress. Auto’s are the snowflakes of cannabis.

This is a misconception, stress causes hermies, light stress is when the light cycle is disrupted. The little light on the power strip in your tent isnt gonna cause a problem. The light in the room your tebt is in, not bright enough. Dont get caught up in the hype. Most often what causes a hermie is grower error… too close to the light etc etc…let go of some of your worry lest you manifest it into reality.

@Docnraq

Thus brings us to why I was concerned lol I don’t have a tent it’s just in my closet which I have to have propped open for fresh air as well as humidity and temp control so there’s a fair amount of light that gets in especially since the tv is on blah blah blah. Definitely nothing close to a grow light which is what I assume you mean when you say the light won’t affect it. I assume if I had another grow light on a different cycle is when it would be a real issue. Glad to know I don’t have much of an issue to worry about though. It’s not really worry so much as caution and keeping wary. I won’t lie though I have heard that even the light on a power strip could cause a hermie lol

Yes

Make it so your lights out time is when you are in bed and this should eliminate the “problem”.

Thats not ideal. Is it your place or do you rent?

If that was the case then all outdoor grows would hermie because the moon is bright enough to light up the night.

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