Pro Grow LED Run #1, Super Cali Haze, Onyx, Blackbriar, and Blue Diesel

I hope to get two full oz off her, but am supremely confident it will give at least 1.5 oz. I usually wait until 3/4 of the pistils have turned orange and and look with a 10x mag glass to check the trich color and look to get them while they're amber. Kind of an eyeball game. It does vary from strain to strain but I've never had a well bred auto last much longer than 9 weeks before I felt it was ready to harvest.

It will probably be at least another week until I chop but I want to flush now and will do it twice to make sure I get a chance to remove most of the cha-ching as I read this is a good finisher but can give your buds the 'nute' taste if you use too close to harvest so I'll give one more flush and feed just pure water the last week.

hoss12781 said:

I've chatted with others who also didn't find anything super about the super cali haze in their gardens either.

That experience alone drove me away from the 'super auto'. IMO if your plant takes 120 days to go from seed to harvest you might as well be growing photoperiod mj.

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to be fair a super auto is bred to be an outdoor plant they are almost always backcrossed with thai or columbian land race sativa's , try growing a land race sativa indoors ... same results

stick that sucka outdoors over summer in a hole or huge pot in organic soil an just add water an you will get 8 zips + off auto in 100 days , great strain for where sitch is from

they are auto's for the non stealth outdoor grower just like the dwarfs are for stealth indoor rarely do the excell at the opposite of their design

That makes sense. I'm more excited about this "Dr. Feelgood" strain Stitch/Short Stuff will be launching soon. http://female-seeds.co.uk/products/shortstuff-seeds-auto-dr-feelgood-feminised/

My aunt/godmother has fibromyalgia. MJ really helps her live a pain free life and most of the indica dom bud I grow goes straight to her. The sativa dom I grow is for my (clears throat) 'medical' needs.

Sorry if this has been brought up already.......But have you used your (14 band. ) progrow long enough to reach a opinion about its pro's and cons verses the older models.

They are selling off the older units at a good discount......or drop the extra coin and get the new panels....any thoughts????

I had the 3 leaf mutant blackjack under the new spec 14 band, which ties in nicely with this part of the story. That plant is now so big that I had to make an executive decision on the caramel. I cut it down a bit early because the blackjack was so tall and wide that I ran out of space in my closet for 4 plants. I couldn't have the panel on top without bleaching so I now have two of the old spec 180s on 45 degree angles blasting the blackjack from either side. It's going on 3 feet tall which is absurd for an auto. I'll post some pics soon. I'd say if you can get a solid discount on the old spec ones they work great but unless its a heavy discount I'd say go ahead and cough up the dough for a new one. It draws more power (25w I think) and even though I've only run one plant with it, the difference I saw on that blackjack is pretty absurd.

now have the 250 on the super sativa and the new 180 on the la bella afrodita. 260w of led output blasting the blackjack. Caramel hanging with a half arsed trim. I have company coming today so I have to hide it back in my bonus room and didn't have time to do a full trim job. I'm going to let her dry for a minute until she's dry enough to pull the excess leaves off by hand then will be put in jars. A small deviation from the way I usually cut and dry which typically includes a super extensive trim job at the very beginning. We'll see how this works out.

the caramel really only had a couple more days before it should have been chopped anyway and any minor loss in final yield I just lost will be more than made up by the final weigh in on the blackjack. I'd really love to beat the local autoflower geek consortium record if I can which stands at 82g dried. Pretty massive but we'll see if this can be achieved.

As advertised two full oz and then some in less than 70 days. Most of the water weight is gone and she's tipping in a 68 grams of which I'm sure I'll still lose a couple through burping/curing but she's dry enough to be in a jar curing at this point. The smoke the same as before - a good indy/sativa mix with a signature caramel taste.

Nice buds as always sir

thanks man, I wanted to keep her going a little longer but had to make a judgement call. While the caramel was doing very well the blackjack has more weight potential and my space is limited. I guess its a good problem to have. For those of you shopping auto strains the blackjack, if you have 3 plus feet of space in either direction has been an incredible grow - behaves like a photo period plant in growth, flowers like an auto. I'm gunnin for a wide load harvest sometime round X-mas.

In terms of autos that actually behave like an auto should the bella afrodita has displayed excellent node spacing and quick flowering while maintaining a small stature. Smells like a strong kush strain for medi purposes. It should be a solid 1 oz producer and a quick finisher. The super sativa has been giving me fits and doesn't like the nutes as can be expected from a sativa heavy plant. I love some good ol sativa but they're such a pain in the ass to grow inside. It's still healthy but growing it heatlhy has been a mile long hike in Sysephus' shoes (plus rep if you know who that is without using the google machine!).

This journal has been super fun but I believe I've achieved what I set out to do and was only interested in documenting this little adventure as it pertained to new(ish), and from what I've experienced writing this journal, highly controversial grow technology. After my remaining 3 plants are finished I'll probably put a close to this journal as I don't really feel there is more I can prove/share/learn about the tech. The point was to get perspective from fellow led growers and document my own experience as a former HID grower which I've done. I'll continue to post pics of the remaining 3 until harvest. My personal thanks to all who have contributed to this effort!

Without you guys it would have been pretty fucking boring.

I'll be subbed to the end. thanks for all your input and sharing your experiences with the community

hoss12781 said:

I had the 3 leaf mutant blackjack under the new spec 14 band, which ties in nicely with this part of the story. That plant is now so big that I had to make an executive decision on the caramel. I cut it down a bit early because the blackjack was so tall and wide that I ran out of space in my closet for 4 plants. I couldn't have the panel on top without bleaching so I now have two of the old spec 180s on 45 degree angles blasting the blackjack from either side. It's going on 3 feet tall which is absurd for an auto. I'll post some pics soon.
I'd say if you can get a solid discount on the old spec ones they work great but unless its a heavy discount I'd say go ahead and cough up the dough for a new one. It draws more power (25w I think) and even though I've only run one plant with it, the difference I saw on that blackjack is pretty absurd.

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Thanks for the reply and advice.........be safe and happy growing.

thanks guys, I may have backed the wrong horse with the blackjack. While abnormally large for an auto she's too far spread out at 3 ft tall and wide. She's not plumping up like I'd hoped. Also displaying some signs of what appears to be a N def, that or she could actually be rootbound in a 5 gallon pot which is pretty wild for an autoflower. I'll post some pics of where I'm at this weekend.

black jack looks like a photoperiod plant eh? The gallon jug and dressers in the background to give perspective. Seriously over 3ft in both directions.

Anyone feel free to chime in on whats causing the yellowing. I believe its a combo of a N def and being rootbound. That and I was out of town for close to a week and put the mrs in charge of the garden.

Super Sativa going well considering its a sativa which I usually have horrid luck with, especially inside. If you look closely you can see my kickass house slippers on the super sativa top pick which should give you an idea of its size. It's about as big if not bigger than the caramel.

The bella as noted earlier is a very well behaved auto keeping a short stature, excellent node spacing and resin production. Even though it is more than a week behind the others in terms of age it has caught up with the blackjack and super sativa in terms of maturity. As always comments, criticisms, and musings welcome.

Also worth mentioning in the way of autoflower strain reviews. I had some friends in town from Colorado and Cali over the turkey day break. I keep at least 3g of the best nuggets from auto strain I grow preserved in jars. About 8 of us had our own "hoss' cannabis cup" party as my son was spending the night with his cousin.

In terms of winners the general consensus from growers and smokers in medi states that pretty much know their shit is ...

1.) Smurfberry
2.) Auto-Assasin
3.) Blackbriar - yeah for home engineered strains (my friends voted not me - no bias)
4.) Caramel
5.) Onyx - the sample was taken from a super sticky pheno. Its worth mentioning that all the onyx I've grown didn't live up to this sample. I suspect it isn't 100 percent stable in terms of its resin production and yield given other onyx I've grown.

So those were the top 5. No one really liked my blue diesel, but did give props to the top five saying they would have mistaken them for photoperiod nuggets which made my day (that and the several bottles of wine that were consumed). MI-5 came in 6th, followed by Russian Rocket Fuel, then some Diesel Ryder. Fast bud in 9th, Blue Diesel last.

If anyone living in a medi state out west sees a strain called blackbriar floating around in the next 6 months pick it up! I had over 100 seeds and wanted to spread this guy out (blackbrair is a cross between three strains - lemon g photoperiod, MI-5, and Auto-Assassin).

I've got my girl tied up in the basement.

Seriously though I had to tie the blackjack branches up to the main stalk. A great solution any day for an overbushy plant with not so great node spacing. She was getting too bushy and the closeness to the panels was frying her big time. That and since she's finally putting on some weight the branches are starting to do the gangsta lean towards the ground. In retrospect I should have done this a while back but I've been pretty busy with other aspects of life. I'll get some pics of my blackjack bondage girl up soon.

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas in my basement closet.

in the way of supplimentals I just added some pineapple rush to the mix (traded a friend some cha-ching for it). While I suspect this additive is just marketing hype and the same thing could be accomplished by adding 1 tablespoon of blackstrap molasses per gal of purified water I'll go ahead and find out myself from first hand experience before I confirm.

Issues have continued to complicate on the blackjack, I'm pretty sure its just light burn/bleaching because its only affecting areas that were 6inches or less from the panels which is pretty much all the outer branches. It's pretty close so I'm not too worried and the buds seem largely unaffected so far.

The super sativa which has also suffered minor bleaching and some nutrient burn (same nutes, just have found every sativa I grow doesn't like them as much as 50/50 blends or more heavy indicas).

Although I'm sure the blackjack and super sativa will yield and smoke well I grow more impressed with the Bella every day. Excellent node spacing and a well behaved posture for a stealthy area. She should come close to yielding as much as the other two as well. Instead of busing like crazy she just started growing some big 'ol sticks.

I think the blackjack and bella should be ready around x-mas the sativa as you would expect will probably grow into 2012.

hoss12781 said:

growing it heatlhy has been a mile long hike in Sysephus' shoes (plus rep if you know who that is without using the google machine!).

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Off the top of my head, he's a character from Greek mythology who has been cursed in Hades (hell) with the task of pushing a heavy boulder up a steep hill (can't remember why).

Unfortunately, every time he's about "this" close to the top, the rock slips loose, and he has to start again from the bottom.

Its usually spelled "Sisyphus", by the way.

you are correct sir! +rep