Gorilla Girl Autopot

These were germinated in paper towel, sprouted in rockwool, then placed in cups of coco/perlite to get established. Once they reach ~3rd node, I will be transplanting into autopots and preparing to start the system by giving them a drench (stabilize and buffer coco) and ~10 day dry out (encourage roots to search for water). This is as recommended in the autopot manual and is intended to create a wide root system that can handle the near constant bottom feeding that the autopot provides.

Maybe another week in the cups and I will transplant into the autopots. They were looking a bit light, as I've only given plain water and the coco is unbuffered. I've been giving 250ppm solution so they have at least *something* to eat.

When I got back from vacation they were a bit dry and starting to lighten up, so I gave them a nice drink of some low ppm (300ish) solution and they already seem to be much happier after a day. I gave them a bit more tonight. Once they grow another node or two ill throw them in the autopots.

These are starting to grow a bit more quickly now. In a few more days ill be ready to transplant them to the autopots and really kick things off for veg.

Moved the babies into their forever homes. 5 gal geopots. Lightly watered in for now, tomorrow ill do the drench and kick off the countdown until I turn on the autopots.

So far ive had some setbacks with the learning curve of a new system/grow medium. Ive never grown in coco, and never used autopots, so theres plenty of room for error. My worst mistake was letting the dry period run too long before turning on the water. The one on the left was particularly mad about it. In tandem with that, when I transplanted them, I watered them in using a weak nutrient solution when I probably should have been up closer to 500ppm. Live and learn for the next run I guess.

After opening the valve on the autopots with a 600ppm solution, they bounced back with vigor. Since they weren't happy I gave them some extra time to really get back in the swing before topping. Later I will fill the pots the rest of the way to give a little more support. I am a fan of mainlining which is very obviously what im doing here. From thos point on they will get topped at every 3rd node. Im still not sure if im going to stop at 16 or 32 tops this round, but it will be one or the other.

the one on the left got stunted but thats ok. they both have some huge fan leaves and have been growing well with minimal effort. they have been feeding off the same 20gal of nute I mixed at the start, and I only check them every 2 or 3 days.

I haven't made any updates recently, but honestly there hasnt been much to report! These autopots are awesome!

Long story short, I topped each to 16 tops and have kept the res topped up (basically once every other week). Other than that ive left them alone.

Im still using Jacks 321 with no issues at all. Little bit of h2o2 in the res to prevent bacteria growth and thats it. pH and ppm have been completely stable.

Today I flipped to 12/12... I will change the status to flower on the first day i see pistils. The taller one that looks like a small tree has roots growing through the bottom of the fabric pot all the way around. Ive come to realize im not going to be able to grow as large of plants as im used to in these 5 gal. maybe next time ill go for 4 mid size

Flipped to 12/12 a few days ago. The larger plant is already starting to stretch, one branch in particular is taking off. Also seeing a few pistils, so went ahead and changed status to flower.

Nothing has changed yet, though I may slightly increase the ppm of my nutrient solution in a few days depending on how they are looking. Ive gotta say, even though the one plant is a runt, these are probably the healthiest looking plants ive grown yet. Barely any red/purple discoloration, nice healthy green color. Some leaves are a little dark, maybe could run lower veg ppm next time but otherwise im super happy with how these autopots have performed. Way easier than any of the other hydro rigs ive used.

Both of them are looking and smelling awesome! At this point I believe the stretch is done and they are well on their way to bud production.

I defoliated both a little right before flip, and a lot (believe it or not) after 2 weeks. They both are ready for round 3 for sure. The short one is stupid thick and bushy, definitely could use better airflow and light penetration. The tall one is doing pretty good, but mainly just has some fans here and there covering the lower stuff. Ill give em both a trim in the next few days and post the results.

Nutrients are still the exact same ratio of jacks, 321. I am mixing it a little heavier than before, somewhere between 750-800ppm and theyre loving it. A 20gal res lasts about 2 weeks right now, and so far i haven't seen any problematic deficiencies.

Day temps are 78-80f, but night sometimes gets as low as 60. They aren't super happy about it, but they'll live.

Hope everyone has a good holiday, happy growing 🤘

Defoliated a bit more today, uncovering many of the lower bud sites. I will continue to remove fans little by little until the lights can penetrate all the way through the canopy.

Same old jacks 321, mixed to a concentration of 700ish ppm.

Light is around 60k lux at the top of the canopies dropping down to 35k near the bottom.
Still looking happy and healthy!

I did get a tiny $11 heater from Walmart which has worked surprisingly well at fighting the night time cold.

Not much has changed! They are super bushy and drinking 20gal in about a week now. I will be doing a rea change tomorrow, still sticking to the 700ish ppm as they seem to be neither lacking nor tox.

Things are mostly the same! Around 750 ppm and showing no signs of deficiency or excess! Lights are between 40k and 70k lux across the canopies.

Just waiting on em to finish fattening and ripen. Probably will defoliate more soon.

Trichromes are looking great, super frosty. Under scope im seeing healthy mix of clear, white, and amber already.

The larger plant is just as expected. Pretty large, dense buds that smell like candy. Very sweet and a little fruity. That is definitely going to be my weight, probably at least a lb dry.

The smaller plant is weird lol. I dont knwo what else to say about it. It stayed super short and crazy dense, and if I could go back I wouldn't have topped it the last time. Even more strange, the buds have grown super strange, small popcorn buds that are extremely frosty but never really bulked up. There are a few keepers on it, but to be honest that plant will probably mostly become hash and edibles.

Today I removed most of the rest of the bulky fan leaves, the lights are running at about 75%, and due to the weather temps are around 71f with lights on and about 60f lights off.

Its end of run anyways, a little cold wont hurt and plus now I wont need to run my ac when I dry. Probably let them run another week so light can get to whatever I may have uncovered for any last minute maturing, then give them the axe.

These photos were taken from different locations across the canopy, some high, some lower. As you can see there is a good spread of clear, white, and amber already. Ill probably give them another few days then make the call.

Sorry im late! I chopped the girls on Monday 2/2. The current cold wave is definitely helping with dry temps, haven't even had to run the ac at all and temps are sub 60f. Lower humidity than id usually wanna see, but the lower temp actually has the vpd almost perfect and they seem to be doing fine. Ill update with smoke report.