Long veg time. Maybe bad genetics or not autos. Should I flip to 12/12?

[A Viking]

I have four Candy Cane auto-fem from Crop King (bought about two years ago) that just finished week 7 today. They're showing sex, all female, but no sign that they're going into flower.

This long veg time seems unusual. I don't have much more room in the tent for much more veg, but there is no sign that the potential bud sites are going into flower - according to image from USB microscope that I did not save.

This is my first grow. Plants are generally compact and bushy, but only have about another 18" that I can raise the light.
What does RIU think? Wait it out, or flip to 12/12 now?


Here's some grow info:

330 watts LED, 4000K and 2700K (Bridgelux EB strips and screw in bulbs)
20/4 light cycle, switched from 24/0 on Dec 3
2X4X5 tent
4" inline exhaust
8" oscillating fan

soil:
Organic, compost, worm castings, Kelp meal, blood and bone meal, dolomite lime, peat and perlite
Mix of 3 4 and 5 gallon pots

Nutrients:
5ml calmag/4l
2ml GH micro/4l

Rain or filtered water 1.5 to 2 litres every other day per plant

Temps have been on the low side, 15, or sometimes even 14 degrees during lights off. 22 or 23 degrees lights on.


Trying to upload image of pistil taken with usb microscope. Just for fun, and to see if it works!

 

[A Viking]

Well I did flip to 12/12 two days ago. They are on day 54 from sprout now.

Will take some pics of the girls late this evening when the lights come on.

Have been battling fungus gnats for a while, and have been using mosquito dunks with every watering. Gnat situation is slowly improving.

 

[Lund-o]

Well I did flip to 12/12 two days ago. They are on day 54 from sprout now.

Will take some pics of the girls late this evening when the lights come on.

Have been battling fungus gnats for a while, and have been using mosquito dunks with every watering. Gnat situation is slowly improving.

Does it look like they’re photos?

 

[A Viking]

Does it look like they’re photos?

I was not aware that there was a distinctive look to photos vs. autos. Would you mind explaining the key differences?

Lights are off for another three+ hours, I'll have some pics a bit after that.

 

[GBAUTO]

At this point if they are big enough to satisfy you, I would flower them. Just treat them like a photo light cycle and carry on.

 

[A Viking]

Well here are some pics from tonight. Edit. This is after third 12 hour dark cycle.

DIY light - 10 Bridgelux EB strips 272 watts output from the driver + 6 screw in lights.

I think the chip was saturated, lol.

The girls waking up. They're crowded, Fan will be replaced with clamp fans to free up space


Biggest girl, in 5 gal pot. 18" tall


Another angle


View of what will eventually be central cola.

 

[Lund-o]

I was not aware that there was a distinctive look to photos vs. autos. Would you mind explaining the key differences?

Lights are off for another three+ hours, I'll have some pics a bit after that.

Figured you might notice if they started to stretch after switching to 12/12

 

[A Viking]

Figured you might notice if they started to stretch after switching to 12/12

Ah, I see. Nope, no major stretch yet. Had a quick peek at the girls this morning and they seem to be distinctly "praying". Raised the light a bit in case this is indicative of light stress.

 

[Zogs]

I've noticed crop king coming up lately on other forums for their not so auto autoflower. From what I understand is they still produce great bud. Gl on your grow, you got yourself some monsters now.

 

[A Viking]

I've noticed crop king coming up lately on other forums for their not so auto autoflower. From what I understand is they still produce great bud. Gl on your grow, you got yourself some monsters now.

Thanks!

Yeah, I have seen quite a few similar posts. There is a fair amount of hate on Crop King on the web, maybe it's justified, idk. Anyway, had 100% germination, they are all girls, so at least that is good.

Anyway, today is officially day 56 by my way of counting (Oct 20, the day they all broke soil was day 0), and fifth day of 12/12. A few observations:

1. No evidence that flowering stretch has begun. biggest girl is still just over 18"
2. While it is less crowded with the stand fan gone, four mature plants will likely be too much for a 2x4 tent.
3. Pot size does matter. Plants in the two 3 gal fabric pots are 3 to 4 inches shorter than the 4 and 5 gallon pots.
4. I still need to work on developing patience.

Here's some pics.

Full tent


Central bud site for the girl on the right

 

[Zogs]

yea I can definitely see there might be some issues in that 4x2.. You might be in for some tough decisions.

 

[A Viking]

yea I can definitely see there might be some issues in that 4x2.. You might be in for some tough decisions.

Yes, at least one may have to come out in a few weeks. I have everything I need in the shop to put together a small grow cabinet that I can move one of the smaller plants into. Can always use it for a mother cab later.

I'm thinking that this tent will be more suitable for a two plant scrog. Have some white cookie photoperiod seeds that I'd like to try a scrog with. We'll see if any plant can survive my first attempts at topping, fimming, and supercropping, haha.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Some autos NEED forcing .... it can be from a number of issues ranging from breeder issues , strain genetics used , weak stock , misidentified photo ... etc.

It happens . Plant looks healthy so at least it’s not a weak plant.

Flipping to 12/12 will need at least a week or more to see any changes in flower development, up to two weeks. If THAT doesn’t help much or any noticeable bud development .... drop cycle again to 11/13 or 10/14 and FORCE it more .

If plant is finally deemed STALLED ... then trash it. I hate crop king seeds. Try other breeders like Mephisto, G13 , Greenpoint , Speed , Bomb , HSO ......

 

[A Viking]

Some autos NEED forcing .... it can be from a number of issues ranging from breeder issues , strain genetics used , weak stock , misidentified photo ... etc.

It happens . Plant looks healthy so at least it’s not a weak plant.

Flipping to 12/12 will need at least a week or more to see any changes in flower development, up to two weeks. If THAT doesn’t help much or any noticeable bud development .... drop cycle again to 11/13 or 10/14 and FORCE it more .

If plant is finally deemed STALLED ... then trash it. I hate crop king seeds. Try other breeders like Mephisto, G13 , Greenpoint , Speed , Bomb , HSO ......

Yeah, they may be delayed from stress. Three experienced interveinal bleaching in weeks 2-4. Eventually resolved with extra calmag and potassium. Low temps early in the grow may also have caused stress, but temps have been stabilized for several weeks now. Hopefully will see some evidence of flowering progress by next Friday.

Thanks for looking and commenting.

 

[A Viking]

It looks like the impasse may have been broken, Plants are beginning to stretch. The largest girl has added two inches in the past two days. Here's some pics from this morning just before watering. Today is day 58 from seed, day 7 of 12/12.

 

[ISK]

Crop King is not a breeder but merely a retail distributor, who are very clever at marketing but sell products that are not consistent.

I have tried 5 different Crap King auto-fem strains and have various undesirable results, most often were auto's that are not auto

Also had an auto-fem that was a male, dwarfs that were taller than the other strains, and another that produced seeds (hermie).

But, I have had a few plants that turned out quite nice, so Crop King is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get

 

[A Viking]

Yeah, I was wondering if they were repackaging seeds. On their website, they are quite vague about the source(s) of their genetics.
________

Another inch of stretch since yesterday. Will definitely have to move a plant out of there within a week. I'll have a 2x2 cab ready by then to move one of the girls into. Will probably repurpose that cabinet for a mother/clone cab later.

Yay, I get to build another strip light this week! Six gen2 EB strips and driver should be here tomorrow. My son is done with university for the semester and is visiting for Christmas. He would like to learn a bit about lighting and growing, so maybe I can use this cab light build as a teaching project for him. He's one semester (three courses) away from a BSc. in chemistry.
________

Vaped a couple of bowls of Blue Dream after checking on the girls last night. Me likey. I think I found the strain for the next grow.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Bushy little shits .... LST THEM .

 

[Koheleth]

I've seen a couple dozen autos grow now from seed to harvest, and at this point I think a lot of the problems people are having with them cannot be avoided. I've had some that did pretty well and some that were just pitiful. All treated with the exact amount of love and caring. It just has to be a matter of genetics. In the same way that 2 people can have wildly different offspring. I don't believe the seed companies are out to get anyone. I just suspect that's the way it is with autos. Total consistency is probably only doable by cloning photos.

 

[MATTYMATT726]

I've seen a couple dozen autos grow now from seed to harvest, and at this point I think a lot of the problems people are having with them cannot be avoided. I've had some that did pretty well and some that were just pitiful. All treated with the exact amount of love and caring. It just has to be a matter of genetics. In the same way that 2 people can have wildly different offspring. I don't believe the seed companies are out to get anyone. I just suspect that's the way it is with autos. Total consistency is probably only doable by cloning photos.

The last part of this is wrong. Most companies S/F 1 a auto and put it out and it's garbage but people buy cheap. Take a top of the line breeder like Mephisto who have strains as far along as F7 and most F4 or higher and you have as consistant as you might find. People research bad, buy cheap and toy around too much and thats why they might not get best results.