Just curious if my plant seems spindly to anyone else. Sour Diesel Auto. Pot for a pot 5 Gal fabric. MarsHydro Tsw 2000 led running at 18/6. Currently about 11” from light. Sharing with 3 others - all autos including and CBD Kush, AK 47, and SuperSkunk. Sour D hit stretch and never stopped. Haven’t done any pruning except snapping off a fan leaf about 3 weeks ago trying to tuck it. Been using Bergman’s Fert at all stages. Currently using flowertime Fert at around 900 ppm in 6.5 ph adjusted water once week and a straight 6.5 ph water at about halfway through the week. Taking them to dry almost before every water. Temps around 72 and RH at 37-40%. Pictures are from last night and day before.
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Seeds sprouted Feb 26. Pre flower stretch started Feb 20. Around 3 weeks into flower. Day 53 today.
Holy cow she’s tall lol. I think the buds will still fatten up nicely. I had the same worry on my current grow. The buds seems like little grams. Few weeks later, they look like ounces per bud site haha. I think you’ve done great and they look good 
Maybe some LSTing next round to keep the height down? other than that, beautiful! I think they’ll turn out nice.
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They should be plumping more, because you have minimum 6 more weeks of flowering to go.
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Definitely makes me feel better. First time in about 20 years I’ve grown. Definitely want to tweak my set up for next time and try some LST. Was a little worried for this round and wanted to try and keep it simple. I’ve been a golf course superintendent aka turf farmer for 25 years and kind of applying same principals. Watering deep and infrequent, and keeping nutrients at minimums till I get more comfortable with tweaking things. They were all panted At same time and sprouted within two days of each other. Can’t believe how different they all are. CBD Kush is the front left and is the next farthest along. About 2 1/2 weeks into flower and the AK 47, back right plant is about a week into flower. Super Skunk, front left, has been a chunky bush until this week. Finally started to stretch.
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Welcome ! Looking good buds stacking up, give them a couple weeks an they will start filling in. Keep up the good work. Happy growing !
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Lookin good! I know you said you kinda wanted to do it easy and natural this round but you might wanna trim up the bushy one. Get some light to the lower bud sites
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I was thinking that too. It is like a jungle in there. Was hoping the stretch would thin it out some without having to take much out. Keep reading about not trimming autos, but like you said, need to be getting light down into the bud sites.
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I too read not to trim and not to top them. I did it anyways. No side effects whatsoever. I would just start by trimming one branch, maybe two. See how they are the next day. Continue that until your satisfied.
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10-4. Already making my evening plans with the girls for tonight. Thanks for the help. Should I start with maybe some of the older fan leaves. It seems that they are losing some color already, probably from lack of light I would assume.
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I would start by cleaning up around the bottom a bit. Also you can take a few up through the plant for better light penetration , just don’t get crazy.
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I’ve trimmed my autos a few times already and I’m just starting week 8. They have been doing pretty well. Might do a trim this weekend too.
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As @kellydans said, hit some of the smaller leaves at the very bottom first. Then pick and chose some of the larger (long stem ones) that have climbed upwards and are blocking light from getting down. When you’re finished, you should be able to see some light hitting the dirt. Take your time with it. Don’t go crazy chopping. Avoid pistols and cutting too close. It’s ok if there’s some nubby stems left.
I usually will find a bud site towards the bottom that’s in the shade. Follow it up and trim the leaves from other stems that have come over the top of it. Hope that makes sense.
Let us know how she turns out!
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Makes a ton of sense. Thanks for the advise. Gives more perspective on why I’m doing it and what I’m trying to achieve. I’ll post some pics later tonight.
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Selective trimming thinning of autos is not a problem. You do want to do it a early as possible and do a little at a time. Start at the bottom interior and work your way up and out. If you see baby buds buried in there that do not stand a chance of making it to the canopy, take them out now too. Baby larf steals from the buds.
Can you raise the three plants a foot or so? Your light is so high because of SD the other three will pay dearly for it. Isn’t the recommended hanging height for the TSW2000 around 18". How far are your plants from the light? You want to have the tops of all of your plants as even as you can. That way they all get high quality light.
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I’ve been thinking about that as the AK and CBD have matured more. I’ll have to search around for a few milk crates I think I have laying around. To bump them up for a bit. The SD keeps reaching for the light which worries me. Going to have to re rig my light and take off the wire hangers that came with the light as it’s caused me to be maxed out currently on the distance I can move it up.
Just finished the first trim. Felt like I took a lot more off than shows. Started opening up the bud sites on the Super Skunk, and took off a lot of the lower interior leaves that didn’t look so hot as well as some of the interior bud sites that looked like they were going to struggle. Should I water with nutrients tonight or wait till the morning? They are due for some next watering but they could probably hold up till tomorrow moisture wise. Although they are getting pretty light when I lift them. My light cycle is off during the night as it’s easier for me and to deal with when they sleeping when I am. Not sure if that matters too much. Just thought I read something about watering with before the dark cycle. Here’s some pics of the progress and one special one of my 14 year old cat who said it smelled and tasted lip smacking good.
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When you do not break the apical dominance of these plants, it becomes the chicken and an egg thing. The more you raise the light the more they will reach for it. I would suggest bending it over as much as possible without super cropping it. See if you can take 12" off of its height. You will also want to elevate the other plants. Try to get the light so it is 18 - 20 above the plants. You will be rewarded with better buds.
This is what I have in the tent from 12 days ago. The two up front have a couple buds that are about 4" taller than every thing else (AK47 photos). It is a bit a packed house and I ran out of horizontal space. Otherwise, I would have tied them down.
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Great explanation. Freaks me out to bend it over The light measured at 19” from the Kush and 18” from the AK this morning. Probably set my light up so I can bring it up more and debating the bend. The SD seems very fickle when I adjust and tuck some of her leaves. How far along in flower are yours in the photo. They look phenomenal, man. Speechless really. Debating a lot on going to photoperiod seeds next. Just felt like an auto would give me less stress on dictating the grow, but the more I read the more I realize it takes a lot out of our control. So glad I finally jumped into growing. Made my life a lot more enjoyable, and allows me to decompress when I’m in the tent. Thank you to everybody on this forum in helping me realize my true passion. Growing what I’ve loved my whole life.
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If you are growing outside, it is hard to beat the shape and appearance of a huge plant in its natural form. Inside is to totally different animal. On one of my first grows I had a White Widow auto go wild on me. She stretched like crazy and was a foot taller than her sisters. I was running out of height in the tent besides. It gets ugly what you have to resort to. I grabbed the center of the stalk and tied it to the tent’s corner pole pulling it off center as much as I could. I then lashed some heavy wire to the stem that I had bent. Over the next couple of days I bent the wire some more and secured it to what ever I could. On another occasion I slid a tomato cage over the plant and used the cage to bend and secure the plant.
I have become a strong proponent of plant training. It does not matter if it is an auto or photo.
This is a Jack Herer auto. She had an unusually long veg period and I took advantage of it. I simply kept tying (staples) her down and spreading her out by going around the perimeter of the pot. I did not top her although she would have benefited from it (more of an experiment on my part0
9/11 day 51 (starts flowering within a few days)
9/17 day 57 starting to stretch and first signs of flowers
Lastly, 11/27 day 128 and a week before harvesting her. The inside dimensions of the scrog is 22x22
The photo is from 3/8 and on day 36 of 12/12 lights. It took a little over a week for them to transition into flower so actual flower days is closer to 28+_
I started growing with autos. Same thought process as you. After 4 or 5 auto grows switched to photos. Photos are much more rewarding, at least for me. There are plenty of growers that love their autos and do amazing things with them. I still grow single autos (jack herer is an example) but I grow photos in the tent. The picture I first sent is of six clones. Another benefit of photos. If you get a really nice plant you can extent its life by cloning it.
This is a link to my current project. A little preview:
Speaking of clones, after the jack herer I used that space to do a sea of green with twelve NL & AK47 clones. It was fun and different Sea of Green Acres AK47 & NL Clones
If you have questions, just reach out. I will help if I can or tag someone I think that can. I have not been at it that long myself but I enjoy the hell out of it.
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