2nd Attempt At A Grow: BCN Critical XXL Auto

[Zebidee86]

So after the mixed success of growing 2Fast2Vast I’ve now moved on to BCN critical XXL auto. I’ve read good things about this strain so I’m hoping to get good results.

Gear:
60x60x140 tent
4” (no brand) fan and filter
20L airpot
450w LED with UV diodes

I’m using coco fibre for my growing medium cos I’m broke and that’s all I had lying around!

Nutrients will be biobizz grow, bloom and topmax

This is my 2nd attempt at a grow so I’m expecting to make mistakes but I’m confident I can stumble through it all

The seed was good and sprouted 07/12 so it’s just under a week old now, most grow reports ive read show harvest between 75 -90 days.

So the first hurdle I’ve come to is a strange ‘halo’ of discolouration on the second set of leaves... any ideas what this may be due to?
The pic is a bit crap I can get another if needed
Thanks in advance to anyone who contributes

 

[Griffen loki]

I doubt there’s much that anyone could do this early on. The plants pretty delicate at this stage. Use very diluted nutrients and don’t let the coco dry out. I realize that this is an old post how is it doing now?

 

[Zebidee86]

I’d totally forgotten I’d set this journal up!
So I decided it was either a pH or calcium deficiency due to growing in cheap coir. I’ve been adding Cal-Mag and pH down and it seemed to start growing way more vigorously now, I’ll just be keeping my eye out for further signs of deficiency. I’m not sure if the bad start I had stunted it’s growth as it’s still pretty small considering it sprouted 5 weeks ago.
Ive started training it now and it seems to be responding ok
I’ll just do the best I can and hope It all works out. Perhaps this strain just takes its time getting going.

 

[Zebidee86]

It’s been a while since I last updated this... so I’m 7 1/2 weeks in, and man I wish I hadn’t used cheap coco as a growing medium!
It’s been a bit up and down with this plant so far, every now and then it starts showing some Ca deficiency so I’ve been dumping CalMag in its feeds, which seem to be fairly few and far between as the coco holds moisture for a very long time, it also has no real integrity so when I water the top layer gets washed to the edges and I’ve got to smooth it all over again :/ ah well.
Another issue is getting the nutrient balance right as it seems to be a fine line between not enough and too much, I must have overdone it last time as she’s burnt on the edges.
I’m not sure if it’s growing as fast as I’d have expected but then again I’m not at all experienced and I’ve only one previous grow to go from. Is there any chance I could’ve stunted or slowed it’s growth? Each pic is taken every 7 days for reference.
pH has been steady at 6.5
Some preflowers showing but not much scent yet and she seems to be responding well to training.

I’ll try and be more regular with my updates!

 

[Zebidee86]

Halfway into week 9 since sprouting.
Training is going well, it’s getting a stronger aroma now but it still seems a slower grower than my last plant (2Fast2Vast), it looks like it’s moving into flowering phase now but I bet I’ve got another 6-8 weeks to go yet
I really wish that I had just used soil instead of coco as it’s a constant battle to keep it happy in terms of how much to feed it, I generally use 1/2 strength but even that seems a bit hot, I’ll try 1/3 strength and see how that goes. The roots must be growing like crazy, which I’m guessing is a good thing, because there are loads of them protruding from the bottom of the pot! Should I cut these, I don’t want them rotting from sitting in run off water in the tray?
pH has stayed pretty level between 6-7
Pics are from day 56 and 63

 

[Zebidee86]

After reading some other grow journals of the same strain I’m convinced that something went horribly wrong somewhere - it should be well into flowering by now with fairly developed colas but it still seems to have barely left the veg stage.
My plant looks to be at the same stage as a 20-30 day old BCN critical XXL auto based on the comparisons I’ve made with other growers.
What have I done to hold it back? Any input would be really great as it’s growing half the speed it should be

 

[Old Salt]

How much and how often do you feed/water them. I grow in coco/perlite with General Hydroponics' Flora Trio and supplements. I give each plant 2 cups twice a day in their 3.8 US gal / 11l caged grow bags. That's enough to get about 5 - 10% run off. Are you getting run off at each feed/watering?

Coco is drain to waste hydroponics. Your first photo in your Jan 12 post shows that the coco is way too dry. It should always be moist. You can't overwater plants in coco, if you let them drain, and the pots aren't sitting in the run off.

 

[Zebidee86]

Thanks for the info man, have I been starving her maybe? I give her 4L once per week, but is little and often the way to go? Honestly, I wish I’d looked into the differences between coco and soil prior to starting the grow. I guess it’s a lesson well learned.

 

[Old Salt]

Coco is probably the easiest way to grow. The only drawback is that they need attention at least daily, unless you set up an automatic watering system. I did this manually until about two weeks ago. I like to feed/water twice per day. At your plant's stage of growth it would be around a cup (1/4 liter) each time. The key is feed/water at least once per day until you get run off.

Here's a link to my interim automated watering system. I had problems programming the timer. It seems that it just continues the interval timer from where it stopped, rather than restarting it from the beginning. I got around this by setting all the time of day windows to 5 minutes, and the interval time off + time on equal to the window size (5 minutes). I'll post an update there once I've run through an entire 18l batch of water/nutrients successfully.

 

[Zebidee86]

Thanks very much for the information, yeah the general consensus seems to be that I’ve not been watering enough. I feel like I know what I’m doing with it now so hopefully I can get it to recover with a proper feeding schedule

 

[Zebidee86]

‘Progress’ so far

 

[Old Salt]

She's looking much better

 

[Zebidee86]

Week 11, day 77
I just can’t stop nute burning the bastard no matter what I do I can’t get the balance right

 

[Zebidee86]

Day 84 and it’s started flowering properly - looks like it was slowed down due to my infrequent watering schedule. I water almost every day now but I’m burning it every time, I’m barely putting any nutes in at all really

 

[Zebidee86]

I decided to experiment a bit since I think the plant is going to be really stunted (you can see how small it is!) due to my feeding schedule not being suited for coco, I’m trying backbuilding on a few buds to see if there’s any noticeable difference, I also did some defoliation too see if the lower buds grow any better with more light penetration

 

[Zebidee86]

 

[Zebidee86]

So I finally chopped, dried and cured it and got a grand total of 19g for 115 days of growth :/ anyway, lesson learned with coco growing, water regularly! Ah well these things happen and mistakes are the best way to learn! Thanks to everyone for all the advice and input

 

[silclay]

Hi there I know this is old news

Basically, use regular potting soil and stay off the nutes and water every day twice a day, and JUST LEAVE IT THE FUCK ALONE

It will be better than all the messing about

 

[Colby Rohrig]

I’d totally forgotten I’d set this journal up!
So I decided it was either a pH or calcium deficiency due to growing in cheap coir. I’ve been adding Cal-Mag and pH down and it seemed to start growing way more vigorously now, I’ll just be keeping my eye out for further signs of deficiency. I’m not sure if the bad start I had stunted it’s growth as it’s still pretty small considering it sprouted 5 weeks ago.
Ive started training it now and it seems to be responding ok
I’ll just do the best I can and hope It all works out. Perhaps this strain just takes its time getting going.

i.immediate nutrient shock i loved a few things to death too lol