Stoukie's Auto Training Experiment

[Stoukie]

For my next grow I will be experimenting with three auto flowering ladies, you always hear how finicky autos are and how you should not fiddle with them due to their short veg cycle, let's put that to the test by growing three autos side by side and training each one in a different way.

The three different autos I'm going to grow is:

- Fastberry Auto from Fastbuds

- CBD Crack Auto from Fastbuds

- Daiquiri Lime Auto from Dutch Passion

So I was thinking the first auto I will top after it reaches 3 nodes and maybe top again each side branch once they reach 3 nodes ending up with many smaller colas.

The second I'm thinking to tie down horizontal when it reaches about 3 or 4 nodes, not going to top it, just bending.

And the last one I was thinking of doing absolutely nothing to it, sort of like a baseline grow... 

I'm not 100% set on the training techniques yet so please feel free to add your comments or suggestions please.

Earlier the week, Tuesday evening, I soaked the beans for 12 hours:

The next evening they were showing signs of life:

I planted them on Friday:

Day 3 and a little green can already be spotted:

Ladies will be grown indoors under one of the 240 watt quantum boards with a 18 / 6 light cycle. Each one will be planted directly (as per the pictures above) into a 10 liter material pot. 

I'm a big Freedom Farm fan but for this grow I'm trying this medium from Atami:

That's it... let's see how it goes.

Edited May 19, 2019 by Stoukie

[Zaskar09]

No stickers? Should be a good experiment, following.

[YourStonedBuddy]

Nice dude! Keen to see how that soil performs, never seen it before

[Stoukie]

56 minutes ago, Zaskar09 said:

No stickers? Should be a good experiment, following.

Hahaha no sticker labels no... in my defense they will not stick to the material pots

[Stoukie]

2 minutes ago, YourStonedBuddy said:

Nice dude! Keen to see how that soil performs, never seen it before

Agree, got a nutrient sample from the Atami stall at the expo and talked to the sales guy for 5 min, that is about all I know of them... but this is a experimental run, so using stuff I'm not comfortable with...

[Zaskar09]

4 minutes ago, Stoukie said:

Hahaha no sticker labels no... in my defense they will not stick to the material pots

Excuses excuses. https://www.honeybunch.co.za/products/sew-on-labels

[SkunkPharm]

Why labels bro? These bags are re-usable. I don't even lable my storage jars. I just smell what is what.

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[Stoukie]

1 hour ago, SkunkPharm said:

Why labels bro? These bags are re-usable. I don't even lable my storage jars. I just smell what is what.

Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Haha bit of a inside joke as I commented on his diary that we are looking forward to his grow as all the plastics pots were labeled with stickers, very neatly and methodically done.

[Stoukie]

Right so it's been just shy of 4 weeks and the girls are looking okay... Due to the cold and me not having a heater for the first 3 weeks did not help their growth, they look strong but for 4 weeks they are a bit small considering they are autos...

I'm however still continuing with the experiment.

So this is what I was thinking:

1 : CBD Crack - Top above node 3, light horizontal training of branches

2 : Fastberry - Wait until 4 to 5 nodes, start bending main stem horizontal, trim any branches pointing down

3 : Daiquiri Lime - Absolutely nothing

CBD Crack:

Fastberry:

Daiquiri Lime:

Any other ideas?

[PsyCLown]

Isn't it quite risky to top on auto's?

 

Growth on the CBD seems a bit quicker than the others, so will hopefully recover and increase yield?

[Stoukie]

56 minutes ago, PsyCLown said:

Isn't it quite risky to top on auto's?

 

Growth on the CBD seems a bit quicker than the others, so will hopefully recover and increase yield?

Yes definitely risky, but that's the whole point of the experiment, let's see what it does when I top it, if it works great, of not then hopefully someone learns from my mistake.

Had success with my Blue Cheese Auto by topping it, let's see if it was a fluke

 

[PsyCLown]

27 minutes ago, Stoukie said:

Yes definitely risky, but that's the whole point of the experiment, let's see what it does when I top it, if it works great, of not then hopefully someone learns from my mistake.

Had success with my Blue Cheese Auto by topping it, let's see if it was a fluke

 

I have 12 autoflower seeds laying around, so by all means cut it and let me learn from your mistakes  haha

I had planned on only doing LST on them.

 

You'd only top an auto which is growing quickly though, otherwise it may be doing more harm than good I guess?

[Stoukie]

4 weeks and 4 days since germination, seeing some fantastic progress in the last week.

As per my plan I topped the CBD Crack and started bending the Fastberry, the bending I'm taking super slow as the stem seems very brittle. I'm doing the training with hooks I push into the ground, the hooks around the bottom of the stem I bend the last few cm horizontal to stabilize the stem and keep in in place.

CBD Crack, topped just above node 3:

Fastberry enduring some LST:

Side view showing the hooks:

Another side view:

Top view showing the main cola being off center due to the bending:

Daiquiri Lime, no training:

Will continue on doing what I'm doing, let's see what happens next...

[PsyCLown]

Nice, why no training on the Daiquari Lime?

Curious to see how the CBD Crack handles the topping.

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[Stoukie]

5 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Nice, why no training on the Daiquari Lime?

Curious to see how the CBD Crack handles the topping.

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Daiquiri Lime is my 'control', to do a proper compare I need to leave one lady completely alone to compare against the other two I'm fiddling with. 

I know I'm already messing with the experiment by using three different strains, but let's not focus to much on that

[Dank]

Very cool experiment @Stoukie 

I see online the auto's do well with the LST training, not many topping their plants, love a bit of good ol weed tinkering!

One could also coordinate the topping of the plant with prior dose of MycoRoot (or similar) as well as EM1 if it is available, this could minimize a lot of the shock and really assist in recovery.

Cannabis plants take quite a bit of mutilation in nature (ofc sometimes the plant doesn't survive), bouncing back and growing stronger than before is not uncommon.

Recent findings also show that LST and certain techniques like some defoliation, etc can actually increase the terpenes and possibly resin production. These tests were most likely done on photo strains.

Its only natural that these tests get done on autos! 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Dank

[PsyCLown]

2 hours ago, Dank said:

Very cool experiment @Stoukie 

I see online the auto's do well with the LST training, not many topping their plants, love a bit of good ol weed tinkering!

One could also coordinate the topping of the plant with prior dose of MycoRoot (or similar) as well as EM1 if it is available, this could minimize a lot of the shock and really assist in recovery.

Cannabis plants take quite a bit of mutilation in nature (ofc sometimes the plant doesn't survive), bouncing back and growing stronger than before is not uncommon.

Recent findings also show that LST and certain techniques like some defoliation, etc can actually increase the terpenes and possibly resin production. These tests were most likely done on photo strains.

Its only natural that these tests get done on autos! 

Mycoroot (This is just mycorrhizal fungi, correct?) and EM1 (microbe inoculation), I guess this would help in the sense that the fungus would help bring nutrients to the plant and the extra microbes in the soil would break down the nutrients and make it more readily available to the plant?

 

I think it would be a good idea to use both regardless of whether you plan on topping or not though.

I assume the LST & defoliation would assist in the sense that more of the plant gets light and therefore it can create more terpenes and resin? Which would make sense, I guess that is why we do LST and defoliation and so forth. Try expose as much of the plant to light as possible. Try force the plant to grow in a manner in which it can utilize the light better.

[Dank]

9 hours ago, PsyCLown said:

Mycoroot (This is just mycorrhizal fungi, correct?) and EM1 (microbe inoculation), I guess this would help in the sense that the fungus would help bring nutrients to the plant and the extra microbes in the soil would break down the nutrients and make it more readily available to the plant?

 

I think it would be a good idea to use both regardless of whether you plan on topping or not though.

Yip you have those correct, the mycorrihizal fungi is common practice when transplanting these days, I think the fungi would also help minimize the stress, as well as you mentioned supply nutrients and what is needed to the plant to assist recovery. 

Using EM1 and the Myco is a good practice to ensure you have a diverse beneficial microbial ecosystem in your soil. Happy soil happy plants.

[Stoukie]

Thank you for the feedback @Dank and @PsyCLown.

The seedling were inoculated with a Live Microbial Bio-Firtelizer called ExploGrow on week 3.

Today it's been 5 weeks since germination and the ladies look well on their way, this is a picture I took yesterday of the fan leaves that the CBD Crack Auto is pushing out:

Will get some proper pictures of the others also as things are moving very fast now.

[Stoukie]

Took a few fresh pictures tonight and fiddled with the ladies a bit...

CBD Crack Auto - I took off the bottom two branches so ending up with the branches from node 2 and 3, the idea is to bend them horizontal and wait for 3 nodes and then keep node 1 and 3.

Fastberry Auto - Keeping to the bending theme I'm pinning the main cola down and horizontal, will see what the cola does, but if it gets to long I'm going to spiral it a bit...

Daiquiri Lime Auto - Stock standard, no training.

Let see what the week bring, hopefully not PM

[Pat999]

The PM been going around like a mofo. I've been fighting it too but winning at least

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[Dank]

@Pat999 @Stoukie I have a horticultural friend (not Cannabis) that mentioned to me the other day he uses cinnamon to control PM organically, I haven't tried yet.

The usual H202 mix + some diluted vinegar also does the trick for me.

Glad your are winning that battle man! If all else fails I defol like a mofo! 

Not trying to give advice just been meaning to mention this to you guys about the PM, especially with outdoor season coming sooooon!

Edited June 20, 2019 by Dank

[Pat999]

[mention=1162]Pat999[/mention] [mention=1716]Stoukie[/mention] I have a horticultural friend (not Cannabis) that mentioned to me the other day he uses cinnamon to control PM organically, I haven't tried yet.
The usual H202 mix + some diluted vinegar also does the trick for me.
Glad your are winning that battle man! If all else fails I defol like a mofo! 
Not trying to give advice just been meaning to mention this to you guys about the PM, especially with outdoor season coming sooooon!

Hell yeah bru, I've been loving the AQSP from Jamie, bliksem a bit of canola oil in there to help with sticking to the leaves and haven't had shite in a few weeks. Holding thumbs, the girls are all gonna get a spray again today just for Murphys sake

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[Dank]

Lekker man! Having a nice IPM regiment during veg times really helps a lot I find.

Everything wants that GOOD WEED, peeples, sheep, dogs, cattle, flies, fungus, ALLES! 

[PsyCLown]

4 minutes ago, Dank said:

Lekker man! Having a nice IPM regiment during veg times really helps a lot I find.

Everything wants that GOOD WEED, peeples, sheep, dogs, cattle, flies, fungus, ALLES! 

What is an IPM regiment?