Autoflowers, LEDs & Bubbles, Oh My!

Please stay tuned as we join the following grow in progress...
Current grow date, 30 days from seed.


In the Closet:
3' x 2' x 5' tent.
190 cfm fan + Carbon filter
2 - circulation fans

Medium:
Stealth Hydro Bubbleponics (6 gallon)
Nutrients: Stealth Hydro

Lighting (270 watts total):
1 - Hydroponics Hut's Pro-Grow 180w LED
1 - Hydroponics Hut's 90w HO CREE UFO

Plant Genetics:
(5) Blue Mystic Feminized Autos form Nirvana.

Prime Directive:
This is my second grow. The first with hydro and the first with auto flower seeds, though.

I just want to show that...

1. The seeds are indeed female and auto-flowering. There are many rumors abuzz about the quality of them (and autos in general), these were purchased after Nirvana returned the Blue Mystic Autos to stock after a brief quality-control issue with the breeder. Shortly afterwards, these seeds were once again removed from stock (along with all Nirvana autos, with exception to ShortRyder, again amid rumors).

2. With a modest investment in equipment and a little research, anyone (allowed by law) can grow their own, top quality medicine safely, easily & efficiently.

But mostly, I just want to see how hard I can push the plants & equipment to get as much possible quality harvest as allowed by nature, and have lots of fun in the process.

Okay, Shall we?

Grow rewind:

Day 1
(the one on the lower right has my eyes...)

Day 7

Day 11 - Weird stuff, Odd branching growth from the cotyledon/stem union.

Day 12 - Gave them 25% nutrients in the reservoir at day 10, about 4 days too early. No damage done, but Top-Right and Low-Right wilted and struggle to keep up, by day 12 began kicking in to grow mode.

Day 15 - LowRight is showing some beautiful blueberry traits.

Day 16

Day 19 - 20, Before the Hydroponics Hut Pro-Grow 180W

Day 22-24, After the Hydroponics Hut Pro-Grow 180W. As rapidly as the starts were growing on their own, the difference of the improved PG-180 was hard to deny.

Day 25 - I was doing a reservoir change and I needed a little room to clean the tent up a bit. During this time there was a break in the weather and I placed them in a room with sunlight. They got to chill for about 20 min in the sunlight, it made me kind of sad that this was the first and probably only time they would ever see the actual sun.

As both have declared female, it seems "Low-Left" and "Top-Left" are hitting the "stretch". Growth between last night and this morning was astounding, in the sense that as dense as the inner branching was, this morning they have shot up and outwards opening up much inner foliage to light.

I've never seen growth like this. Lower branches (like from the single leaf node), growing past the height of the actual top of the plant, then branching out like they were plants themselves.

Also, I realized that since lowering the reservoir temp to less than 70ºF, the color of the roots improved even better than hydrogen peroxide alone...

Discovery #2: I was running my water pump 24/7, reservoir temps easily would get to 74ºF. Since switching to a 10 minutes on and 50 minutes off timed pump interval, res temp is a near perfect 68ºF!

Nice looking girls and set up ...grew short rider last year and it went perfect....plus rep ...

DSB65 said:

Nice looking girls and set up ...grew short rider last year and it went perfect....plus rep ...

Click to expand...

Much Appreciated, DSB65!

This is my first foray with autos. I hope they "auto" soon, or they'll be bigger than my tent.

Day 30
Another declaration of gender, Low-Right is a girl!

Though all plants are healthy, a definite height difference can be seen between Top-Left and Low-Left verses the other 3 plants.

Top-Left & Low-Left, branching out like mad!

Mid-Top, Top-Right and Low-Right


Days 32 - 33

Switched to the"Bloom" nutrients at yesterday's reservoir change, as they should begin flowering anytime soon...

Pic form middle Earth... Root's looking happy!

While doing a replacement of the nutrients and cleaning reservoir, pumps & filter, the girls are out of the tent letting their roots air in the transfer bin. They really seem to like it.

Even the glass, casing & fans on the Pro-Grow LEDs get cleaned weekly too.


Fresh, pH'd nutrients bubble away as hungry roots await.


Back in the cleaned reservoir, ready to return to the tent.

From what I've read, Blue Mystic Autos generally start obvious blooming between weeks 3-5. I am not counting on it, heading into week 5 and other than pre-flowers and what I thought was stretching, there are no floral spikes developing yet.

I am beginning to look at reducing the light cycle (16/8?, or maybe even lower?) and try to get things started. - Any thoughts on this? Or, what about a 36hr dark cycle prior to reducing the lights?

My other concern is that as Indica dominant plants go, these are looking great! Oddly, Blue Mystic is a Sativa dominant strain. I know there are phenotype variations, but all five seeds?

What I think of when I hear Blue Mystic... (This is a B.M. Auto from someone else's grow)

It is what it is, so long as they're healthy and happy, then I'm happy!

And a big thank you to everyone here! I appreciate all the comments and tips, I look forward to being able to pay it forward!

I like the tin foil idea for blocking algae growth, gonna try that myself.

nice man gj +rep

Lampey Simpkin said:

I like the tin foil idea for blocking algae growth, gonna try that myself.

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Hi Lampey!
I know they sell plastic covers and I've seen them made with paper plates and such, but just wrap the top of the basket in foil, poke a (small) finger size hole, plant your seed (or insert cutting), good to go!

Just make sure while it's young, the tender stem isn't rubbing directly against an edge of the foil or cover.

`SoA || Asi said:

nice man gj +rep

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Many thanks `SoA || Asi, welcome!

Nice grow ! Like those autos...changing them to 12/12 will induce flowering....then perhaps kicking back up a bit........+rep

It's official, 5 of 5 Blue Mystic Auto seeds sprouted and 5 of 5 all have female pre-flowers! Now if they'd just look like Blue Mystics, and autoflower, I'll be set!

The girls have been more active, steadily increasing there consumption, they drank just over 1.25 gallons since yesterday morning, thats thats an increase of nearly 1/2 gallon, it has been ramping up about a quart a day. Temperatures and humidity have been pretty constant.

Even with wiring her down Top-Left is well above 14" tall and wide.

We still have about 4 inches we can lift the lights, and I can lower the reservoir about an additional 8 inches, so we're okay for headroom for now.

"Low-Left" is bushing out. I threw a wire on her to get a slight bend in her going. Not LST really, just to open her up a bit.

The darker green tip in the upper left corner is Top-Left's actual top. Her lowest branches have really shot up and out!

Top-Mid and Top-Right, a little crammed, but growth is dense & nodes tight.

Thought the color is thrown off by the lighting, Low-Right is sporting some blue hues in the areas with very dark green growth.

Great job ladies, now bloom!

Oldreefer said:

Nice grow ! Like those autos...changing them to 12/12 will induce flowering....then perhaps kicking back up a bit........+rep

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Mahalo Oldreefer!

I was pondering the drop to 12/12, do you think keep it 12/12 till obvious bloom, then switch back to maybe a 16/8? SHould this be done instantly, or slowly over a few days?

Well, I'm gonna call it. The Blue Mystic Autos are "no go" on the auto.
We're entering into week 7 and no sign of auto-flowering. Bloom nutrients in the tank for two weeks, and lights at 16/8. Nodes are still tight, growth good. We will be dropping the light cycle down to 14/10 to see if that is enough to trigger any photosensitive flowering traits. If not, 13/11 the following week and so on.


Reservoir change this morning, had issues locating & disconnecting the water pump. Roots are so thick, they've devoured the pump & manifold.


While they were out I did a little wire & bend to get the canopy mostly even-ish. For perspective, hidden in the midst of leaves is a 2 liter 7-Up bottle.

Beyond that, all is well!

Hey I like your setup. I've been looking around for hydro, led, and autos! REAL NICE PLANTS.

marcnh said:

Hey I like your setup. I've been looking around for hydro, led, and autos! REAL NICE PLANTS.

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Thank you marcnh!

So far, I'm really digging this set-up too. Everything is "plant & play", the only issues I've run into are my own lack of knowledge. Thankfully there are lots of cool people here (a lot smarter than I, too) that have ben very helpful!

The one other issue is that my autos were a no-go, so we've cut the light cycle to 12/12.

I WILL bloom them come hell or high water!

Another nutrient change (AND the pump is now gone from the reservoir)... Behold the root cube! Keep in mind, that's 5 plants, the mass is about 20" x 15 x 18.

"Self-portrait in the sun with blue-mystics"

All cleaned up and ready to go back to the tent!

Light shots. The taller and denser these ladies get, the more concerned with overgrowth & light blocking I become, but so far the coverage & penetration are looking fine. I have trimmed some growth that is below the 7" line, but much of the lower branches shot up tall and became part of the canopy.

The two smaller plants (Top-Mid & Top-Right) have begun throwing out a lot of pre-flowers at the base of the sun leaf stems, but no white hairs at the leaf bud tips yet.

"Low-Right" is developing some dank, funky aromas, while the rest are fairly fruity/neutral.

So we'll be a month(at least) behind as far as harvesting goes, but the plus is that I should have more to harvest as they've been vegging nearly 2 months.

Some of the phenotypes are really hitting the stretch, easily 3-4cm of growth a day, Others are staying tight & compact, but all are in stages of bloom. Space is now a precious commodity.

Even with stem bending & LST, they average around 2 ft. tall. This will provide a good lesson for me in canopy management.

Top-Left is a stretcher, though tall and lanky (for an indica) each of her branches look like a plant themselves. Her pistils are really long and calyxes tinged with purple.
Some of the other girls have denser pistil clusters than Top-Left, but I think barring any unnatural circumstances, she'll be the big producer of the group.

It's starting to get exciting, I love the bloom stage!!!

Meanwhile feel free to chime in, I always enjoy conversation.

A semi-belated Season's Greeting and Happy New Year! May we all be blessed with health, happiness, peace and prosperity!

These were from yesterday (Sunday)...

Out for another nutrient change, fresh nutrients & FF-Big Bloom. Hard bending to Top-Left to keep her height in check...

Once the girls were out of the tent, I was able to get my hands on Top-Left, I had to get a little rough but managed to bend her lowest (but tallest) branch into height submission. (The top is now back down around 27").
Kind of a close shot, but the canopy is a bit more even again. Low-Right is working hard on cranking out flowers.

Running the red spectrum only, just for dramatic effect...

I loaned out my good camera, so I couldn't get any decent macro shots. There are early trichomes on a few of the girls, I hope they start getting fatter, rather than taller, but it's all good!

Love, smile, enjoy... repeat as necessary.

Day 72 from seed

A little update... Hope everyone is doing well!

The tent...

Two of the girls are morphing out of looking indica and blooming sativa-like.

Pushed them a little hard this week, but they seem to like it. I will scale back on the nutrients next reservoir change.

SH "High Feed BLOOM" nutrients tomorrow. I ordered on Tuesday, got confirmation thursday, and BAM! Got it, arrived today! Very impressive! I went into town and picked up "Vita Grow Supermicro, Part A" one part of a three part mix, it's a 4-14-24 so I was going to use it as a replacement if the SH order didn't arrive in time.

Speaking of nutes... I pushed a little hard this week, our first real fertilizer burn.


But the results have been noticeable:

Wild hairs

Trichome production

Even the buds not in direct light, are glistening!

Hi RIU'ers,

Sorry for the infrequent posting, I haven't taken time to stop and smell the flowers...

Last Saturday morning view from the top...

Seems like the finish line should be just 3 mile ahead, 3 miles ago. It's getting more crowded in the tent almost exponentially it seems every few days. I've been shifting the PG 180 a few inches left... a few inches to the right, angle forward.. back.. every few hours as time permits, essentially making myself a human light mover. Wire ties and branch bending as well to allow more light beneath the canopy.

Front-side view

The bloom, on the biggest plant "Top-Left", is a bit behind where I hoped to be in terms of mass. But I've read that some Blue Mystics wait till the final days to thicken up (I hope), and what she is exhibiting looks and smells exceptional.

The sativa-ish looking duo are definitely a week or two behind the other 3, but they make for more interesting plants. The Calyxes on Low-Right are HUGE, and instead of showing 2 hairs, sometimes there are several per calyx. This one has the sweetest berry-fruity scent and even her main stem is covered in trichomes.

Meanwhile within the canopy... infant nuggets battle to stay dense

We also began the girls on StealthHydro's "High-Feed" nutrients last week's reservoir change in addition to a little taste of Beastie Blooms as needed.

All green, no (new) burn, yeah we're happy! Hope you all are too. Be well everyone!