My First Grow: Organic S.A.D Auto + QB96

Cheezy Being my first grow this week has been both exciting and stressful. I may make a lot of mistakes but they should all be good learning experiences! My setup is a little on the cheap and nasty side but I am getting so much experience already. It's one thing researching for over a year but to actually put this knowledge into practice already feels so rewarding. I am using coco coir as my substrate amended with 75:25 Gaia Green 4-4-4:2-8-4 and 15% perlite. My grow style is based on Mr Canucks Grow as I've always loved his results and it's an added bonus that it's a simple and organic way to grow. Here's to week 2!

Cheezy It's early in the week still, I think she's going pretty well so far for my first grow. Since I am using dry organic amendments I have only amended the medium before planting and am going to try to hold out until mid week 4 to top dress the medium. Around day 12 I noticed some yellowing. After sticking a pH test probe in the soil and the needle hitting the max of 8 alkalinity I knew what my issue is. I waited until appropriate to water and watered at 6.5. I hope I am doing enough to correct the mediums pH. On day 12 I received a 36x20x60 Vivosun tent and transferred her over, hopefully this went okay. I would not recommend this process for new growers as inexperience may lead to mistakes through panic, it would be best to just wait it out for when there is nothing to go wrong. I had my temperature and humidity display fall on my little girl and she did not want to stand up again, I piled a mound of dirt around the base to hold her up and it seems to be working.

Cheezy At the start of week 3 she wasn't quite as big as what I would have hoped for but it looks like she is staring to turn it up a notch, for now I will just continue watering when dry. Started LST on day 20. Sorry about lack of photos on day 21.

Cheezy I began the low stress training on day 20 and re-tied her on days 22 and 24. Everything is coming along great! On day 23 I noticed signs of her revealing her sex! On day 24 a new top poked it's way up, I also noticed more of a grassy smell. By day 28 the smell has gotten closer to a weedy smell but is mostly grassy. On day 26 I accidentally ripped off a branch while adjusting the LST, I started the cloning process but from what I've read since she's shown her sex I can't expect much/any vegative growth. I guess we will all see the results together! In the morning of day 27 the humidifier was removed due to the limited control I have over it. Temperature and humidity controllers are on the wish list. It's day 28 and I haven't amended the medium yet and growth is still great, let's stretch it out another week.

Cheezy Day 29 was pretty uneventful, no photos taken. I adjusted LST on day 30, she is coming along quite nicely. I'm pretty sure I noticed the starting of a bud (pictured above), hence why I labelled this week as the start of flowering. I watered on day 30, the pot was very light beforehand and the tips had slightly started drooping. Day 31 was very uneventful, just watched her grow. Readjusted LST on day 32. So many tops! On day 33 I removed 5 leaves that were always partially resting on the medium, the last leaf that I removed was evenly yellowing from the stem which appeared to be the plant using the leaves stored nutrients. I then proceeded to top dress the medium with a 50-50 blend of Gaia Green 4-4-4 and 2-8-4 at 2 tbsp per gallon of medium. I will amend again in 3 weeks if all goes well, hopefully leaving enough time for the nutrients to be used before harvest. I also removed a stubborn leaf that I could not tuck behind anything, hopefully I haven't stunted her too bad. I don't want to remove any more leaves as I've read that this can poorly effect autoflowers since they are on a tight time frame, does anyone have any opinions on pruning autos? Day 35 and I think I've finally got a system in place to maintain the temperatures, unfortunately it means I get up twice a night to empty the AC. When I can work I will be getting a window unit for sure!! The biggest change that I would make for next grow is either not LSTing for comparison or starting LST perhaps a week later

Cheezy I was a little worried that I was starting to run into issues with the looks at my tips, this was mainly focused under the light so it turned out to be light burn. I raised the light. the first photo shows the tips of concern. I'm not too worried about the second photo after doing some research, it's normal for the tips of pistils to brown with age if they have been unsuccessful in being polenated. Besides that growth overall looks really good and I think I am still on track for at least a harvest, I've definitely learned more than I expected so that's the main thing! On day 37 I watered with aerated bottled spring water pHd at 6.6 to give her a bit of a treat (medium was dry).

Cheezy Using the methods learned on Mr Canucks Grow has made this such an easy grow! All I've done is LST, water when dry and top dress around day 35. She seems to be flowering nicely, I'm getting some trichome development and the buds seem to be getting bigger (slowly but surely). It's interesting, I thought that I would have noticed an increase in odour when the leaves started to get frosty but I haven't noticed anything yet. When I touched the tip of a leaf next to a bud site my fingers smelled SOOOO sweet, like I had a drop of syrup on them so I am super excited about how she will taste! The smell has progressively gotten more noticeable, now when I'm sniffing in the tent there is a faint smell. The smell has also gotten more dank then sweet, it has more of an earthy/skunk smell. Not very noticeable unless you smell your fingers after managing the plant. For now I will continue to water when dry, pH'd between 6.5-6.8. Watered on day 44 and 47

Cheezy From the start of the week there has been a lightly noticeable smell in the tent. After managing her my fingers were super sticky and smelled amazing! By day 54 the smell was noticeable as soon as the tent is opened. She needed water on day 50, 52 and day 54. I will just let her go until harvest, watering when dry of course. I don't think there will be enough time to wait the 4 weeks after top dressing. If anyone has experience with Gaia Green feel free to give some advice :D The fact that she is fading on day 54 is a clear indication that I should not top dress. I wish she was bigger, but I'm still super happy with all of the gained experience! I should also have some high quality smoke after she's done, quality not quantity eh? Late day 53 I noticed some leaves beginning to fade, this should mean that I have about 3 weeks left from what I've read but I'll be watching closely just incase. Mid day 54 and the fade has definitely begun!

Cheezy I'm watering every second day at this stage, when she stops asking for as much water I'll know harvest is close. I'm also watching the trichs every day to make sure I don't miss their progression. As soon as I open the tent there is a noticeable smell, it's amazing :D Anyway, not much to do until she's ready.

Cheezy Still watering once every 2 days. I'm waiting for more amber trichs, I love being couch locked and apparently the more amber trichomes you have the more couch locking the high will be. On day 64 my impatience got the better of me, I saw a popcorn nug that wasn't getting much light and snipped it. I'm drying it to sample early but I'm sure I'll be disappointed :P Day 68 was the first day I didn't need to water on the second day, this slowing down in drinking may symbolise harvests approach

Cheezy I'm so surprised she is still going but sure enough there are still fresh pistils, they may have even popped up on day 71... Dark room is all ready for her 2 days of darkness and for the hang and dry. Also sorry if there are a lot of the same kind of photo, it's late and I'll fix that in the morning. On day 75 the sugar leaves have 1% amber trichs and the flower only has the odd couple starting to turn. I want to make more room for the new girls as the cheese looks like she wants more light. I will probably move her into darkness in 3 days when she's dry again as I just gave her a slight watering.

Cheezy Put her into darkness before lights on on day 79. I plan on pulling her out and harvesting on day 82. My grow is based on everything I've learned from watching MrCanucksGrow on YouTube, definitely check him out if you are interested in growing organically. The grow was eventually moved into a 3x2 Vivosun grow tent. I have 2 4"inline fans pulling through a 4"carbon filter. I am using an HLG QB96 Elite V2 powered by a Meanwell HLG-150H-54A (somehow running at 215W (not even maxed)). I started out by mixing up some Coco coir and my amendments. I use Gaia Green (Dr Earth works the same and if in Aus I was going to use thrive organics range(their npk is different though)) and since I am mixing the amendments in before planting I will be using 4 tablespoons per gallon of medium (this has recently changed to 2 tablespoons per gallon with Gaia Green). The ratio used was 75-25 of Gaia Green 4-4-4 all purpose to Gaia Green 2-8-4 power bloom. Since I used a 5 gallon fabric pot I needed 15 tablespoons of 4-4-4 and 5 tablespoons of 2-8-4. After amending I added perlite to about 10-15% but use whatever you feel comfortable with up to 30% IMO. 50% is apparently great for cuttings and seedlings if your going to be transplanting but I have not tried this. Using organic dry amendments in coco coir turns the growing method into more of a dirt style grow. You absolutely need to maintain the pH between 6.5 and 6.8 to protect the microbial life organic gardening promotes. With all of that in place it was time to pop the seed directly into the dirt. You can germinate however you would like, be it; with a cup of water and then a paper towel when they sink, with just a wet paper towel and a baggie in a warm spot, or as nature intended straight in the medium. When germinating straight in the medium care must be taken not to disturb the seed as this is the most fragile stage of its life. Water with either a spray bottle or fill up the plants saucer so water can travel upwards with capillary action. After 2-3 days she sprouts, keep her in a dome for a day or two to keep the humidity up and still take care while watering as it is far to easy to uproot a seedling at this age. -added later- don't use a humidity dome for seedlings, only clones. The extra humidity from the dome can promote seed death due to damping-off, just killed my first seed.. Gentle watering when dry, pHd between 6.5-6.8, is done for the first couple of weeks. Take the time to lift the container to get an idea of what it feels like dry as optimal watering will lead to optimal growth. The plant is watered when dry with a watering can after the first couple of weeks, as soon as she can handle it this makes watering easier. Always pH! When the plant has enough height feel free to tie her over, my LST efforts weren't the best but doing this gave me plenty of growth on side branches (my newer grows show better LST). I did this a little too early IMO on this grow, more height would have been nice. On day 35 it was time to top dress! Because we are now top dressing we only use 2 tablespoons per gallon of medium, I will also use a 50-50 mix this time as we are in flower. 5 tablespoons of Gaia Green 4-4-4 all purpose and 5 tablespoons of Gaia Green 2-8-4 power bloom are used. If I had known that this was going to be the last feed I would have used 2.5 tbsp 4-4-4 to 7.5 tbsp of 2-8-4 to give her more phosphorus during flowering. After this it was just adjusting lst when needed and watering (pHd between 6.5-6.8) when dry. This was done all the way up until morning 79 before lights on (trichs wouldn't amber) when she was then put into darkness until day 82 where she was then chopped down and hung whole to dry. Now I wait....

Cheezy What an awesome experience for my fist grow! I am super happy with making it to harvest! I do wish that she would have gotten a little bigger but it looks like that's a genetic thing for this strain. The smells coming out of the drying room are just next level! I cannot wait to get into her! The whole plant including stems and leaves is 119 grams. Everything is going to be updated after she is dried and trimmed, hopefully in around 10 days but things don't always go how we would like. Had a massive change in the weather which reduced the dry rooms RH to 25%-30% from my original 45% which I was worried was too low.. So on the 4th day in an inexperienced panic I decided to trim and jar, at this stage I have 24gm of product. For a full explanation of the grow check out week 12. I'm a little disappointed in the weight but where she lacks in yeild she gives back in potency. I sampled the dryest of my small dense nugs after trimming and even though I was already high I could feel the added effect very soon after smoking some. I decided to sample a little more the morning after and this not a good choice of wake and bake strain if you need to be productive afterwards. I'm a seasoned smoker and after 2 hoots I could have easily gone back to sleep, something that hasn't happened in years. The tastes are just amazing, it's so sweet and very herby/spicy. I totally get why it's called Sweet Afghani Delicious, it's sweet, it has that spice factor that I can imagine Middle Eastern food has (I'm new to Afghani weed :P) and boy is it delicious! I have decided to start including this herb in our line-up after only 3 days of proper curing due to its anti nausea effect for my girlfriend, also because of its awesome effects for myself. I love the taste from these buds and I have only been having the small buds so far! Hopefully the 4 big ones will last the full curing time and I'll post more pictures then. I would have probably ended up with closer to 21.5 grams of dried bud if I hadn't smoked any 🤪 There's also plenty of unweighted trim which will be saved up and then used for butter. I am also keeping the stems for tea and the roots for future experimenting with ginger beer :D I would love to grow this genetic again but I will not be picking up the autoflower variety again due to the genetics small size but I will definitely be picking up their SAD S1 variety when I'm growing photoperiods. I'm pretty sure this strain would do fantastic in a PC Case stealth grow, or grow in another very small area. The smoke from this herb is lovely! Tastes so sweet and full of spices. Has a moderate anti nausea effect but will make your eyes dry and sore even if you are a seasoned smoker. Great for night time, locks you in the couch until you're ready for bed. Thanks to everyone for following along! Keep an eye out for all my future grows!! Peace!