Window sill grow

Soil was rather dry Sunday so I gave her a first proper feed of grow nutrients. Some good sunshine recently, hopefully she’s enjoyed that. This girl is showing pre-flowers and has fairly stretched the past few days. Now over 70cm tall. Definitely seeing the Sativa side of the strain.

Day 42 for the Dr Jack Auto.

She continues to stretch, and is now standing at 98cm tall (3' 2&1/2" in old money). I expect her to exceed 1 metre in height shortly as she's putting on 2-3cm per day just now. Certainly doesn't match the breeder info, which claims this strain is "short". But it may just be this example is more of a sativa phenotype.

In the pic below she's doing her characteristic droop act, because it's really a very overcast day. She prefers full sun. A relative lack of strong sunshine this spring and "summer" may also have led her to stretch more. As you can see, I've supported this lady with a bamboo cane, because she tends to bend towards the light at the top. With her height, it makes it a bit tottery. While tying her on, I managed to bend a lower branch, so there's a wee splint holding it up while it mends.

She is showing pre-flowers, maybe a bit behind schedule but things go a bit more slowly at the window.

On closer inspection with a magnifying glass, it seems I was wrong about this girl showing pre-flowers. They were just secondary leaf shoots. These are putting out the beginnings of branches and leaves at each node. So no sign of flowering yet.

Either she's just running late, which is understandable given the lack of good sunshine, or the possibility arises she's not an autoflower at all. This was a freebie seed, so I can hardly complain. But if this is a photoperiod plant, then I could be in for a long wait and she'll be vegging for months ahead... Either scenario raises the question of just how big she might get, not only in veg but after flowering eventually starts...

We shall see over the coming weeks I suppose.

After mulling this over, I need to reduce the height somehow. I'm inclined to not just top, but aggressively prune this girl to about half her current height (or slightly more). This should produce a bushier plant with more side branching, and the stress might also induce flowering.

Okay, it's decided. I'm going to "super top" this girl. Then the top will be trimmed and I'll try to root it out as a clone. Insurance policy if you like, in case the tall girl throws a wobbly after being cut back.

So I topped the tall girl. Cut about 20cm in height off her, so she's just over 80cm tall now. It was only after topping that I noticed what look like pre-flowers nestling among the baby leaves in the top three to four nodes I'd just removed. Sod's law! So she is an auto, just a tall spindly one. I suppose the fact she had offset branches in the upper nodes should have alerted me to the pre-flower stage. She was way too tall anyway, I needed to do something or she might have stretched to 1.5 metres or more during flower. Now at least she might get a bit bushier before flowering proper sets in.

I prepared the top as a cutting, rolled the end in rooting powder and popped her in a tub of soil in the propagator, pre-watered with 5ml/litre Maxicrop liquid seaweed. Dunno what I'll get from the cutting if she roots, maybe a shorter baby plant. She'll stay at the window alongside her mum.

Dr Jack Auto reached Day 49.

She's back to nearly a metre high. This girl is just determined to be tall. It could be worse I suppose - if I hadn't topped she may have been 1.5 metres or more by now. She's also put out quite a few side branches and new leaves. No flowers as yet though she is showing pre-flowers. The topping might have set that back a bit, or she may just be taking her time. The large, older fan leaves are almost permanently droopy these days, though the younger smaller ones are a bit more lively. It gives an odd, rangey look with branches almost at right angles to each other.

I return to my previous opinion that she's ill at ease by the window. I'm assuming that the northern UK just doesn't supply enough full sunshine or warmth to suit her. If I was in Spain, no problem. Anyway, she's alive, and growing, but maybe not really happy. If the clone roots successfully this big girl will be joined by her daughter/twin soon. So they can be discontent together...

I'd top her again, a bit more brutally, but reckon it might not be good for this lanky lady. We'll see though. If she gets towards 120cm then I'll have to take action, she's already much more conspicuous than anticipated a few weeks ago. If she's not flowering yet, maybe no real harm done. Speaking of which, when oh when will she finally go into flower? Your guess is as good as mine.....in theory not far off, but in practice she is slow.

The thought occurs that if she behaves like a photoperiod, then treat her like one and do a second topping.

I bit the bullet and topped her a second time. Last chance to do so really, as she will probably start flowering soon. The original Dr Jack Auto will now be a bit shorter, which is good. Hopefully some more side branches will develop making her a bit bushier.

As she had two tops, I made cuttings from both and they are now in the propagator alongside their sister and an Auto Duck seedling. If all the cuttings root successfully, then there will be four Dr Jack Autos by the window soon! One tall, and three shorties.

What the hell, it's all a bit of fun anyway. The big girl was getting too tall again, so she got topped again. If I get an extra clone or two out of it, great. Not expecting a big harvest by the window, whatever I get is fine.

Somebody up there must have been listening, because we've now had a couple of days with decent full sun at the window. The big girl still wants to be tall - the upper of her two tops has reached up to 93cm. There are pre-flowers showing at several nodes so with any luck she'll be flowering soon. Maybe there is more stretching still to come...

The three sisters are still in the propagator for now. I've tried removing the eldest original cutting a couple of times, but she wilted pretty quickly upon encountering sunshine. So I'm guessing she's not ready for the big time yet. All three are looking green and healthy, they're just taking their time it seems. If they do root properly and become viable, I'll make sure to train them early on so they don't shoot up too tall like their mum.

I'm beginning to think that I am going to have to prune this tall girl back again. She's just got too big. Going to have to do it before flowering begins. It may well set her back, but she's just too damn conspicuous as she is. Again.

If I make some more cuttings, I'm potentially looking at a larger group of her little sisters lining the windowsill in a couple of weeks' time...

Okay the dirty deed is done. I've cut her back a third time, reducing her overall height by 20cm. I suppose I'll find out how an auto like this will handle multiple toppings / severe pruning. She may end up quite stunted, but frankly that's kind of what I want at this point.

I took the twin tops as cuttings and they are in the propagator along with their sisters. Madness really, but maybe I can salvage something from all this. Time will tell...

I'm not really that worried. This is practically a free grow. Freebie seed, free sunshine, just a few watts of heat mat occasionally if the temperatures drop. Still July, August and September available. So something will grow.

Yesterday was day 56 by the window. Cloudy and wet mostly, only intermittent sunny spells.

Dr Jack Auto has recovered well from her third (and hopefully final) topping. I also removed the old, large, permanently drooping fan leaves from the earlier stage of veg. They did not seem to be doing much for her, in fact they were blocking light from new growth. So this lady looks rather different, if still spindly she is broader with more side branching now. She stands at 75cm at the highest point currently, a bit more manageable than before. While she has pre-flowers, still no real sign of flowering proper setting in. Maybe that's not surprising given what she's been through. Or maybe she's not an auto after all?

Four of her five little sisters are still in the propagator. I'm testing the oldest one out next to her mum on the heat mat, see how she gets on.

Day 59.

What I thought were pre-flowers turned out to be leaf buds. So, no flowering in sight.

It's possible this is a late auto, could be the strain or more likely what she's been through. Not only the lack of direct sun and cloudy skies, but also the multiple toppings, defoliation, earlier overwatering.

Or it could be that there was a mixup with the seed and it's not an autoflower. Or the strain is not fully stabilised and this seed did not inherit auto flowering traits fully.

I have heard of late or "stubborn" autos, but she should have started flowering by now. If it doesn't show any sign of happening by the weekend then to all intents and purposes this is a photoperiod and will continue to veg for a long while yet...

In which case I'll have to top and supercrop like crazy.....we shall see.

I believe the cold weather and lack of sunshine is the culprit.

I started an auto in September just to see if I could grow a plant during the fall/winter days.....it took about 6 months to finish, and even then it wasn't fully done.

the one in soil on the left

Yeah, looks like you're correct! It's been a poor summer so far here. Guess I'll just have to be patient.....she'll be ready when she's ready.

The first of the five cuttings I took from the original Dr Jack "Auto" is 17 days old. I'm pretty sure it has rooted now, and have popped it on the windowsill. She looks a bit droopy, but in fairness her sisters in the propagator and her tall mum are droopy too. It's just what this one does when there's no direct sunlight. Importantly, she's not wilting. Reckon she'll harden off a bit by the window and then I'll look to pot up into her final. This will most likely be 5 or 7.5 litres rather than the 11 litres her mum is in. This and the other clones will be trained heavily to keep a low profile.

I'm switching the heat mat off on her mum today, as despite the crap weather so far this "summer", temperatures are fairly warm so little risk of chilly roots.

Well the little clone is back in the propagator today. Looked very sorry for herself when I checked on her just now. Not as bad as last time I tried this, but still clearly unhappy. Maybe I'll just do half a day in, half out for the next wee while to try and toughen her up a bit.

Day 63 for Dr Jack "Auto".

She's just vegging away. I keep imagining I see pre-flowers and then they turn out to be leaf buds. Certainly no pistils showing at all.

I'm still assuming she is, in fact, an autoflower. Just a late and/or stubborn one. She really should be in flower by now, end of week nine. However I have to acknowledge the environment has not been ideal for a Sativa heavy strain, and she's been hacked about a lot. So I'm prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

She is getting too big. Again. Healthy enough now, but way too conspicuous to sit by the window. So I'm going to have to get a bit brutal with this girl I'm afraid. I will shortly be chopping her down to a more manageable size. I'll also prune all remaining growing tips. If she survives this savagery, I am hoping for a more compact, bushy plant - or as much as can be expected from a stretchy Sativa.

Also at the window today are two of her daughters. I took the cover off the propagator last night, and placed three out of the five clones at the window - basically the ones that did not wilt. However the first clone started to wilt in the sunshine, whereas these two seem to be loving it. I think I left too many leaves on the first clone, so she couldn't sustain the level of transpiration. I've now removed two lower large fan leaves and she's back in the propagator to recuperate for a bit. She'll join her sisters once recovered.

I will prepare a number of cuttings from the mum - might as well. But I'm not sure I have space for them all just now, so might pop them in the fridge for a bit until I know what to do with them.

Excuse a couple of pics that are a bit out of focus - using flash to fill in seems to throw the autofocus out sometimes...

Here's Dr Jack Auto after a severe pruning.

Seems a bit brutal I know, but hopefully she'll survive this and stay smaller. I gave her some grow nutes to help with overcoming the shock.

Day 70 for Dr Jack Auto by the window.

She has bounced back to some extent. Lower branches are seeing good growth, and some extra tops are developing. She's staying shorter this time, and bushing out. Hopefully I'll be able to leave her relatively unmolested and let flowering commence.

Older fan leaves have started drooping permanently and have brown spots. I don't think it's over watering this time. Maybe some kind of nutrient burn? Anyway I'll leave them on for now, but once her new growth has advanced some more, I'll get rid of the old, damaged leaves.