newbie tropical outdoor

[ragamuffin]

Thanks for the friendly welcome on the Intro thread (). A few requests came in to post on my grow, so here ya go.

This is my first real grow, a Flash Babylon autofem. I germinated her on July 1, about 50 days ago, and have been growing her in a location that I can only visit every 3-4 weeks. She sits in an organic soil mix, outside in the tropical sun during the rainy season.

After the first month, I noticed slow growth and a bit of yellowing on the lower leaves. I diagnosed overwatering, removed the mulch, and began carefully diggin around the edge of the pot. The soil was soggy. When I squeezed a handful, it dripped like a sponge. The soil had too much clay, and the ceramic pot just one big drain hole on the bottom. Plus I had mixed coco coir, and it was just holding water.The roots were wet and I guess oxygen wasn't making it in.

So I dug out as much of the soil as possible without disturbing the roots, and let the plant sit in the air--luckily we had several clear sunny days in a row. She seemed to respond immediately to the oxygen. I repotted her in a plastic pot with more drain holes, made sure there was a good layer of rocks beneath, and put together a new soil mix of compost, aged cow manure, and worm castings, and tried again. I was worried that I damaged roots during the transplant, but the improvement is dramatic.

The first pic, with the coco mulch, was taken at 5 weeks, before the transplant. The rest were taken at 7 weeks. Notice how the two upper sets of leaves are much bigger than the earlier ones. And all the secondary growth is also new. Dark veins that had appeared on the stem have faded and everything is bright green. Where the lvery first leaves had yellowed and fallen off, new ones have already appeared.

So I think the plant is healthy. But I have no idea what to expect in terms of the next stage of growth and flowering. Properly grown, this strain is supposed to be ready for harvest 65 days after germination, but obviously my plant at 51 days will take more time. What will happen now? Will buds form while the plant is still small? I'm interested in what the experts have to say about it.

[Dust]

nice looking girl man, glad to hear that you solved quickly your overwatering problem, or should we say underaerating problem ^^

that girl does look very healthy since repotted man, it seem so far she hasn't declared, and if you have a pot high enough, she might keep growing a little before starting to flower, time will tell

when she'll start her sex show, you can count on 10 20cm growth on the tops i think, that's what happened with my autos outdoor ^^ But i ain't in the tropic tho so maybe it will be diferent for you.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your grow with us man, i hope she will go until the end of bloom without troubles

Have a good grow

[ragamuffin]

Here's an updated photo, 10 days since the last. I'm kind of amazed at the growth in just 2+ weeks. We've had great sun over the past ten days. The plant gets 3-4 hours direct in the morning and another 3-4 in the afternoon. Lots of rain at night, I haven't watered beyond that. Does it look like she's going into flower? Flash Babylon has a 9 week flowering time. The rains should trail off in about a month, and so I'm hoping for a full month of clear bright sunny days before harvest. All comments, advice, suggestions welcome. --Ragamuffin

[Bam-Bhole]

Seems as if flowering is about to explode very soon. Nice plant, never heard if that strain. Where did you get it from ?

All the best

ONE

BAM

[ragamuffin]

Flash Babylon is an auto strain from Samsara seeds. It came as a freebie from Attitude.

[mikeandnaomi]

Looks great.

[ragamuffin]

About 2 weeks into flowering. Will start weekly high P organic drench and more frequent watering.

[Dust]

looking dan happy, leaves up and buds smiling

Thanks for the news man they seem to be doing just fine

Have a good grow and keep us updated

[ragamuffin]

Lots of critters in the garden, including those that munch on the tomatos and salad greens. This plant however has seen no pests. During veg I used effetive microorganisms in a foliar spray and soil drench, which is supposed to boost immunity to pests. Today I started brewing a tea with EM, molasses, worm castings, bone meal, and organic fertilizer pellets high in P for flowering. After it stews for 5-7 days, i'll try it out and if the plant looks happy, then will feed with this tea until harvest. The reason the plant is so small is that I had it sitting in poor soil for the first month. Too bad, as I think good soil from the beginning would have helped her grow to twice her current height. Since this is my first grow, my goal is humble, just to make it through harvest successfully. The most helpful element is the bright tropical sun, intenese, bright, natural light. Sun and plant have fallen in love.The monsoon just rolled in, drenching us in ph 6 water.

[Bam-Bhole]

Ohh oh oh, no no no - do not foliar feed that late in flower, I just sprayed my Autos NL's with a little bit of PLAGRON VITA RACE/Phytamin (5ml in a 1 litre bottle on 10 plants) and the most advanced showed signs of mould a few days later. Plus it will affect the taste . They will more or less finish their budding till it is time to cut her down wth or without additional nutes. You can add molasses in the regular water and give her some potassium but best would be just plain water or if you want to speed up the process add GHE's RIPEN for 10 days 6ml per litre /plant/day, then flush her properly with a clearing solution first and then with lots of clear water - Then let her dry out and cut her down. Or simply water her if needed - But Do not foliar feed or give her fat nutes !

[ragamuffin]

Haha don't worry, foliar feeding only during veg. I think of these as nutes for the soil. My plan is to keep the plants out through the end of the natural rainiy season and then two weeks or so of sunshine. So maybe 5 weeks from now. i hope that will be enough time for small buds on lower branches to really bloom.

[Bam-Bhole]

Okay then - I misread the 2 weeks into flowering with about 2 weeks to go... It is nearly impossible to judge a plant from 2 photos like that without anything to relate it to in regards of size. To me the buds are looking much further than 2 weeks, but it is the monsoon and tropical sun I guess.. .so good luck and keep the pix coming.