Auto Flower Perpetual Redundancy Part 3

Auto Flower Perpetual Redundancy Part 3 per·pet·u·al/pərˈpeCH(o͞o)əl/ Occurring repeatedly; so frequent as to seem endless and uninterrupted. re·dun·dan·cy/rəˈdəndənsē/ The inclusion of extra components which are not strictly necessary to functioning, in case of failure in other components. Follow along with my multi part Auto Flower Perpetual Redundancy Diaries. Part 1 and Part 2 consisting of 2 different strains cultivated side by side in my Veg tent. Once officially in bloom they will be transferred to my Bloom tent. I have chosen to allow at least a week past the mid-point of bloom before starting the next phase of the Auto Flower Perpetual Redundancy Part 3 and Part 4. I will repeat the process running 2 additional strains starting once again in my Veg tent. I am doing this to allow a slight buffer to give me more time for harvesting, drying, preparing for re-potting the next batch and ensuring space is available in my bloom tent. I’ve been pondering a way to increase production for some time. With my set up I can typically expect to harvest about every 75 to 77 days. If I choose the appropriate strains, I will be able to increase the number of harvests to at least 8 or 9 per year with faster finishing auto flower strains. Each diary will contain and repeat similar or possibly identical growing conditions, feeding schedules etc. A couple or a few photos will be posted each week depending on my available time with the bulk of the photos being during the last weeks of flush and harvest. Specific review about each strain’s growing characteristics will be given after harvest/curing including a smoke report. Thanks for following along. Also be sure to read my TIP OF THE WEEK OFFICIAL SET UP VEG TENT Gorilla Grow Tent Shorty 2 ft X 4 ft X 5 ft (2) G8 Led grow lights 140 actual watts each (4) 1020 reinforced drainage trays (8) 3.17 Gallon Maxi Pots (12 Liter) (2) Exhale XL Co2 bags (2) 6-inch 2-speed circulation fans Customized Air Innovations 2-gallon Cool Mist Ultrasonic Humidifier 4-inch 190 cfm variable speed exhaust fan no filter BLOOM TENT Gorilla Grow Tent Shorty 2 ft X 4 ft X 5 ft (2) G8 Led bloom lights 245 actual watts (4) 1020 reinforced drainage trays (8) 3.17 Gallon Maxi Pots (12 Liter) (2) Exhale XL Co2 bags (2) 6-inch 2-speed circulation fans 4-inch 190 cfm variable speed exhaust fan with carbon filter MISCELLANEOUS TOOLS OF THE TRADE Aquatic Life RO Buddie 100 Gallon Three Stage Reverse Osmosis System (10) 5-Gallon BPA Free Food Grade Water Jugs (8) Clear Solo Cups with 5 Vent Holes (Humidity Domes) Super Foam Wire Ties (Cut to 12” Lengths) Hydro Farm PPF/PAR Meter H&M TDS Meter (0.5 ppm scale) Hanna PH Meter Hanna Cleaning, Storage and Calibration Solutions Digital Infrared Thermometer (2) Digital Thermometer/Hydrometer Precision Hand Held Watering Device (Turkey baster) Graduated Nutrient Eyedropper Various Sized Mixing Containers 3/8-inch Siphon Hose 2 Gallon Wet/Dry Vacuum 40X LED Lighted Jewelers Loupe (2) Curved Bladed Trimming Shears (4) Teflon Coated Baking Pans 10”x 16”x 2” (8) Heavy Duty Wire Clothes Hangers Roll of Fine Florist’s Wire (Cut to 6-inch lengths) Digital Scales (Large & Small) (12) Half Gallon Glass Jars (12) Ink Bird LED Hydrometers (12) 62% Boveda Humidity Packs (1) Pack RAW Hemp Rolling Papers (1) Butane Lighter (1) Comfortable Lazy Chair SOIL COMPONENTS Canna Coco Coir Mix Fox Farm Ocean Forest Mix Perlite Extreme Gardening Azos (Azospirillum brasilense) Extreme Gardening Mykos (Rhizophagus intraradices) Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (All Fungus Gnats Must Die) BULK MIX PROPORTIONS 60% Fox Farm Ocean Forest 30% Canna Coco Coir 10% Perlite SEEDLING MIX PROPORTIONS 7 parts Biobizz light 1-part Canna Coco Coir 1-part Perlite SEEDLING / VEG. NUTRIENTS Canna Bio Rhizotonic Canna Bio Vega (If needed) BLOOM NUTRIENTS Advanced Nutrients Connoisseur Bloom A & B Big Bud Canna PK 13/14 Canna Boost SUPPLEMENTS AN B-52 AN Bud Candy AN Sensi Cal Mag Xtra Canna Cannazyme General Hydroponics Armor Si Epsom Salt (If Needed) Mammoth Microbes Mammoth P Organic Blackstrap Molasses LABS (Lactic Acid Bacteria Serum) https://themodern.farm/why/ FLUSHING SOLUTION General Hydroponics Flora-Kleen AUTO FLOWER LED LIGHT INTENSITY Recommended LED PPFD/PAR Values / DLI Based on 20 hrs. of light. Seedlings 150 - 200 umol / DLI 10.80 - 14.4 moles per day Veg up to 9" 450 umol / DLI 32.40 moles per day Early bloom 500 umol / DLI 36.00 moles per day Mid bloom 650 umol / DLI 46.80 moles per day Late bloom 750 umol / DLI 54.00 moles per day Ripen 400 umol / DLI 28.80 moles per day *** Use extreme caution going 700 umol or higher @ 20 hrs/day this could cause leaf burn*** PAR is the amount of light in the 400 - 700 nm color spectrum that can actually be used by the plant. PAR does not measure the amount of UV and Infrared that plays a part in trichome formation and cell quality. DLI (Daily Light Integral) is the total amount of PAR the plant has received per day Our goal is to have a minimum DLI in the 38-40 mole range when in bloom. https://www.waveformlighting.com/horticulture/daily-light-integral-dli-calculator https://horticulturelightinggroup.com/blogs/news/horticulture-metrics-par-ppf-ppfd-dli TIP OF THE WEEK Product Review / LVPD (Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit) Air Innovations 2.15 Gal. Ultrasonic Cool Mist Dual Tank Digital Humidifier. It’s large enough to create any amount of humidity needed. I typically only have to fill it every other day. It’s digital and comes with a handy remote control. If used inside a tent it can be automatically set to regulate the humidity of your liking. Which is nice and no fuss. Fairly easy to clean and fill. I’m rating it at 4.5 stars. I would give it 5 stars if it allowed top filling of the tanks rather than having to shut it off and remove the tank which have a bottom fill fitting. https://www.amazon.com/Air-Innovations-Ultrasonic-Digital-Humidifier/dp/B01A1BFPJ8?th=1 I purchased this nice humidifier and customized it to add crucial humidity during the critical beginning stages of a seedlings life and control the LVPD (Leaf Vapor Pressure Deficit) during the later stages of the plant’s life. This LVPD heavily influences the plants ability to regulate proper plant transpiration during the vegetative, early, mid and late bloom stages of the plant’s life. There is a definite correlation between the “Leaf Canopy” temperature and humidity these numbers are used to properly calculate LVPD. Sorry to say if your using ambient grow room temperature to make this calculation you’re doing it wrong! The whole idea is to provide optimal conditions to allow the stoma on and under the leaves surface to open more often to release moisture and absorb more Co2. When the stoma are open it’s like the top of a straw and the bottom of the straw are your roots. When the stoma are open, they are drawing water and nutrients up through the plant. As your plant and roots mature, we tend to lower the humidity which in turn increases transpiration causing the plant to feed more. Believe it or not the type of lighting your using can increase or decrease the leaf surface temperature. When using LED lights leaf surface temperature taken with an infra-red thermometer tend to run around 5 degrees lower than ambient room temperature possibly more. When using HID lights with heavy red spectrum like HPS your leaf surface temperature can run 5-7 degrees higher than ambient room temperatures. While in bloom keeping the plant canopy temperature below 80 F will help preserve the terpenes in your buds, above that and you’re quickly evaporating those precious terpenes. With Autoflower plants I personally feel the first 4 weeks of the plant’s life are the most important. The plants energy is typically spent developing a nice root system so we need to keep our humidity high Day 1 to Day 7 (65 to 70%) to keep water lost through the leaf surfaces as low as possible. As week 2 progresses and a root mass forms you will see the vegetative growth start to kick in allowing you to slowly lower your humidity into the 60% to 65% range encouraging more transpiration to occur and cause the developing root system to begin drawing the nutrients needed for explosive root growth and pulling the nitrogen needed for vegetative growth in week 3-4-5 and begin their stretch. Once the plants are well into the flowering stage in week 6-7-8, 50% to 55% humidity is a good range. Because they are being watered/fed more regularly it’s “almost” unnecessary to use a humidifier since we are slowly lowering the humidity to increase the transpiration rate forcing the plant to draw more nutrients through its root system during key flower development stages. During the ripening stage weeks 9-10-11, 40% to 45% humidity is fine the plants have reached the end of their life and have slowed down or stopped feeding. We also do this to prevent mold and rot issues on and inside the buds. Lastly, we only need to give them a nice flush to get them to use up any nutrients stored in the plants system for a nice clean smoke. Please keep in mind the recommended humidity levels are based on the canopy leaf surface temperatures which allow for the optimal amount of transpiration for each stage of growth and flowering. Recommended LVPD Seedlings/Early Veg 0.4 - 0.8 kPa Late Veg/Early Bloom 0.8 - 1.2 kPa Mid/Late Bloom 1.2 - 1.6 kPa *** Danger Zone*** Below 0.4 kPa / Over 1.6 kPa https://www.dimluxlighting.com/knowledge/vapor-pressure-deficit-vpd-calculator/ https://vpdcalculator.com/vpd-calculator https://www.blackdogled.com/lst