Tomorrow is week 13 for my final Autoflower 3 x WW & one AK47 plants. Summer was short and fall is cold/wet already, we are lucky if the temp sees 70 deg F in the middle of the day. That said I was unprepared to see the foxtailing that is going on with the buds. One WW is fat bushy and still green(see photo) but the others are not budding up as thick and fat as the summer grow. For us we are in Autumn.
The medium I grow in is typical of the mixes I always use, so I don’t believe its a problem with the mix. maybe there was a touch more nitrogen(blood & bone) than usual but the one WW appears normal. So what is it that makes the buds airy and leads to the foxtailing condition?
The research says it happens if the growroom is too hot or plants get too close to the lights. Not in this case.
I believe it has to do with the early onset cold and very short days. I know the autoflower selling speel says ‘their growth does not depend on heat, cold, light duration etc…’ This is my 3rd summer growing autos, and this is my fifth crop, but the first I planted in the last month of summer (Jan 10th). So the late planting is the only real difference.
Also bud rot is beginning to pop up on the flowers. Bummer. Yesterday I harvested one of the AK’s due to the bud rot popping up all over. We are in a cold and wet fall for us.
Maybe its a sign… Anyway its a learning process, the plants smell great and are sticky as hell with the resin glans but the buds on 4 of 5 plants are fluffy and airy.
I would appreciate any thoughts on the foxtailing phenomena?
Forgot, the temperature’s at nights now is in the low 50’s F and sometimes with rain. So these little plants are getting a real test of character in these conditions…
Next year I doubt I will plant in late summer…but the frustrating thing is as you can see by the healthy and fat WW at 13 weeks it clearly is not as affected as the other 3. While Autoflowers have the Ruderalis genetic %, I do not know the exact genetic makeup? And while 3 of these 4 are WW’s they are clearly all very different, which is another puzzle.
Just throwing some thoughts out there.
Best…
