Automaria II LED/CFL

[Andraax]

After finishing some Black Cream grows a friend asked me to try more sativa influenced strains. I decided to try Automaria II from Paradise Seeds, which they recommend for sativa lovers.

The seeds are now in mineral water at ~26°.

The setup is the same as before (maybe I edit later).

 

[Andraax]

Day 1

Day 1

After one day watering / wet mull and then three days in Jiffies both seedlings popped through the soil, have their cotyledones open and started the first set of real leaves.
I will transplant the seedlings to the final pots (12 liters) as soon as the tap root emerges from the Jiffies. I hope to have them in the little green house for a few more days.

 

[Andraax]

Day 3

Day 3

Of course the taps roots did break through the bottom of the Jiffies on day two, and I had to transplant them to their final pots. Maybe I should just germinate those autos in their final pots - would be easier for me and the plants.
Watered each plant with ~100ml mineral water and 25% of the recommended amount of BioBizz root juce.
I made mini green houses for each plant from soft drink bottles. Conditions seem to be very good in there for little seedlings with 25.5° C and high humidity.
The plants don't strech for the light (so they have enough), but are are a little bit too much angulated towards the LED, therefore I arranged the CFLs to the sides to pull them a little in that direction.

 

[Andraax]

Day 6

Day 6

Stopped the mini greenhouse setup and started with the fan.
Growth looks good so far, though I would like to see a little more tension in the leaves.

 

[Andraax]

Day 8

Day 8

Exactly one week after the first plant peeked through the soil, and both plants are imo going to vegetative mode as leaves are growing quickly and side branching has started.

 

[Andraax]

Day 10

Day 10

Vegetative growth is really kicking in now, though I'm still missing the right tension in the leaves.

 

[Andraax]

Day 12

Day 12

Not much to say: first leaves are still a bit droopy, but overall both plants develop nicely.

 

[Andraax]

Day 14

Day 14

Both plants look great two weeks after they first saw the light of LED. The leaves show now a very nice tension, looking almost agressivley.
They seem to develop side branches at the cotoledone-sites! See detail pics below - please note I don't mean the real side branches at the site of the one-finger leaves (which are quite big for 12 day old plants), but the small growths 90° around the stem of the one-finger leaves. I have seen other plants developing some tiny leaves there, but these two seem to produce more than that - very curious what becomes of these "side branches" there.
I have to water them one day earlier than I would like to, because I leave for Christmas a few days. So I will water them today with a first feeding of growth ferts - 25% recommended ammount of Bio-Flores.

 

[Andraax]

Day 16

Day 16

Surely, the plants surprised me with their growth back from christmas festivities. First leaves of the sidebranches are huge and are also producing sidebranches. Even the little growths on the site of the coyteldones seem to produce real little sidebrances - see detail shots.
Leaves are showing the tension that tells me that they are overall happy.
I turned on the second pair LED clusters of the Blackstar Chrome, as I feel they now need the increased coverage - see overview pic.
Now I hope for a few more days of good vegetative growth before preflowers appear heralding the beginning of flowering. My former grows of automatics started preflowers between day 18 and 20.

 

[Andraax]

Day 18

Day 18

Both plants have developed into neat little bushes. They are almost too stacked, so that the side branches have trouble getting out beneath the fan leaves.
Still no signs of preflowers, which is okay for me, so they get some more vegetative growth.

Even the funny side branches at the cotyledone sites develop.

 

[Andraax]

Day 21

Day 21

Big update, much happened the last three days. Three weeks after they peaked through the soil.
Most important, I helped the side branches to get past the big fan leaves, which I have tucked away a bit. As you can see in the pics, they responded very well.
Today I got a new LED - the brand is called Purple Alien with 150 x 3W in the following bands: 660nm & 460nm (66%), 630nm & 430nm (22%), 2.700k & 10.000k (11%). Currently I have running three of the six clusters - see overview.
I discovered some very minor discolorations on the lowest leaves of the right plant. I will closely monitor this and possibly give extra nutes with next watering (only gave 25% of recomended amount with every other watering).
And I have spotted the first preflower appearing, still very tiny - smaller than the stipule beside it. The time is right for me, I think they will grow big enough during flowering (I was beginning to worry).
However, the plants look awsome so far.

 

[Andraax]

Day 24

Day 24

Both plants now show preflowers at the higher internodes, so flowering will soon start. Probably I wouldn't flip them any later if they were not automatic, as they are already ~30cm.
Although they look generally great, I'm becoming a little worried. They have those discolorations on the first and second real leaves - see pic below. Therefore I watered two days ago with Bio-Grow (50% of recommended ammount), to which they responded very well, and the discolorations seem to progress much slower or have even halted. Probably they need the extra nutrients to keep up their fast growth, but I fear to overdo it, especially as it is said autos don't much feeding or none at all.
Any advice?

However, here are the pics:

Any diagnose?

 

[Andraax]

Day 27

Day 27

Preflowers are becoming more, and today I noticed a slight smell for the first time. So everything is on track and soon they will begiin to flower.
I never had such vigorous plants, and therefore I'm not sure how to deal with them correctly. I have the impression they need much more feeding than I'm used to, even though they are autos. Currently I watered two times in a row with 50% of the recommended amount of Bio-Grow (veg nutes), to which they responded very well. Additionally they are drinking and transpiring quite a lot (~500ml each a day), although temps are moderate (25-27° C).
Can I savely go with 50% of recommended nutrients with each watering, or better each other watering? When should I switch from veg to bloom nutes - maybe mix them in a transition phase?

So far we are here:

 

[southflorida]

I'm sure someone will chime in with the feeding for these autos.

What I wanted to say is that these autos look great, paradise did a wonderful job breeding them, and you're doing a great job growing them.

Peace

 

[Andraax]

Day 31

Day 31

Thank you for your feedback southflorida. It's also my impression that this strain has strong genetics - not too much ruderalis, just enough for being automatic.
The plants are now performing their flowering-stretch, sor far it's not excessive, just enough to get the foliage a little bit more "airy" (can you say that?). There is a nice canopy with many future flowers on a roughly even level, I'm very pleased with their stature.
I'm still feeding them each watering with 50% veg nutes, hoping that it doesn't get too much, but they seem to like it that way. Each plant drinks roughly 1liter per day, moisture in the tent is up to 50-60%, and temps are between 26-27° - they are evaporating a lot, as they should.
As individual pics do not longer make sense, I will continue posting just a few overview pics until some details appear worth showing (flowers^^).

 

[Andraax]

Day 34

Day 34

The ladies have completed most of their flowering-stretch I guess, and are now roughly 60cm tall.
Last watering I switched to 25% bloom nutes (Bio-Flores from BioCanna). Now I'm gradually introducing a 20h light cycle (was 24h before).
The beginning flowers are already clearly visible, as their pistils are quite long - see detail of preflowers.

 

[Kaya-man]

24h light cycle until now? 34 days without rest? waw

 

[southflorida]

looking really healthy...that led/cfl spectrum is doing wonders

p.s. beautiful images btw

 

[Andraax]

Day 37

Day 37

Correct Kaya-man, you think that's a problem?
Autos are said to accept every light cycle, don't they? At least they get now some rest, and yes, I think they like it^^ But I also think I didn't harm them, more that I wasted some electricity. However, I'm waiting a few more days before turning on the second batch of LED clusters - essentially until they have arrived at the 20/4 light cycle, because I think doubling the LED power will be demanding on them.

Thank you again southflorida, I'm trying my best.

Plants are doing well, each drinking a liter per day, and I'm feeding with 50% bloom-nutes each watering. I had to raise the LED, trying to stay roughly 30cm from the tops - so stretch wasn't done.

And first pics of the tops:

 

[southflorida]

damn Andraax...those ladies do have the perfect structure.

I'm sure you're gonna be a happy camper when it's harvest time