Outdoor Auto Grow: Genofarm's Purple Haze & Female Seeds' Speed Bud

I'm a pretty new grower, and most of my attempts to grow so far haven't worked out so well. But I'm giving it another shot on a late-season outdoor grow. I will be moving these to a more discrete/guerrilla location when they get a little bigger.
From Attitude Seeds I ordered 4 Speed Bud Auto seeds from Female Seeds. Only one germinated, so I've got it growing. I also planted a freebie of Purple Haze Auto from Genofarm Seeds.
The growing medium is Promix Flex with no additions or amendments. They are in 3 gallon Viagrow fabric grow pots. I will be running these outdoors. Our first average frost here is around November 1st (approx 84 days/12 weeks from now). These are both supposed to be fast strains. The Speed Bud claims seed to harvest in 54 days. The Purple Haze approx 75 days.

If anyone would like to comment/mentor/give me advice during this grow, that would be great. I'd love advice on nutes, pest/disease control, harvest and curing, etc. I'm going to try to do weekly updates if you would like to follow this grow.

This is my third year growing out door auto's. The thing that I have found that help these girls is low stress training. Your veg period is very short, so topping (or fimming) can be done but it's tricky as to when to do it. I have found that fimming has given me in increase in yield when done properly (when done at the right time and when there is no other major stress) but when I didnt time it properly it stressed the plant into flowering even sooner. So I'd recommend LST once you are on your fourth set of leaves and as often as needed after that. Also, the time frame from germination to harvest has been anywhere from 1-3 weeks longer then what the seed package advertised.
I use my own dirt mixture of compost, black earth and peatmoss, with a healthy dosing of powdered dolomite lime to balance PH and give a calcium/magnesium boost. I still give some generic veg and flowering plant food (fertilizer) depending on the plant state but in low doses and only after the 2nd to 3rd week. Pest control, I use insecticidal soap if needed and as for harvesting and curing. No different then a photoperiod strain, though I find that autoflowering plants take a bit longer before you see amber trichs.
Hope this helps and happy growing.

Lots of great info Voodu. Thanks so much. I'll definitely try LST.

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You bought four beans from Female Seeds and only one of them sprouted?

Ltecato, yes. Two were crushed. I'm not sure if I can blame that on Attitude or Female Seeds. Of the two that weren't crushed, only one germinated.
I'm currently running two photos from Female Seeds and both of those seeds germinated just fine, so I don't want to write the breeder off just yet. Attitude is supposed to be replacing these crushed seeds. We'll see...

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Here's a quick update. It's Day 11. Things are looking good. Temps have been hovering around 100 degrees this past week. These girls are getting 9-10 hours of full sun. I've done nothing but water up to this point.

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smoketastic said:

Here's a quick update. It's Day 11. Things are looking good. Temps have been hovering around 100 degrees this past week. These girls are getting 9-10 hours of full sun. I've done nothing but water up to this point.

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Click to expand...

keen to see how the speed bud goes

Today I LST'd them. It's my first time to LST a plant. Let me know if it looks like I did something wrong.
They got one feeding at 1/4 strength of Jack's Classic on Day 12.
I will start feeding with DynaGro this week, starting with my next watering. I plan to start at 1/2 strength with the DynaGro. Move to 3/4 strength, and then to full strength if they look like they are handling it okay.
Temps have been cooler, in the upper 80s and low 90s. Heavy rains today. Temps are expected to be in the upper 80s for the next 7 days.

Gunna watch this one dude. Good luck. I feel ya pain over the beans not popping. I bought 3 2 Fast 2 Vast from Herbies, 1 popped. Dropped em a line and they said on my next order they would send me 5 free autos, just mention my order # in the notes. I'm thinkin probably not 2 Fast 2 Vast but something. They were telling me how the seeds are sold as souvenirs blah blah blah. Probably done with Herbies except for 1 more order to get my free beans. Anything is better than what I got now...

For LST it looks perfect for where your plant is at. As the plant tries to grow "up" again, I would put the next LST line on the base of the plant pulling slightly in the opposite direction of your first one. Would be hard to do with wire, but some string or garden twine from a dollar store wrapped around a small stick or stake would work well. Use the stick as an anchor into the soil and have the twine wrap around the base stem of the plant. The counter balance will prevent any problems with uprooting as you continue to provide strain on the top part of the plant. Every two days or so check your plant for how its corrected itself and continue to rearrange your LST lines to have it bent over, leaving your counter line. Eventually the branches will grow out and go straight up, you can tie these down to the left and right of the main stalk and continue in the same manner.

Some tips from my experience:
- Don't LST when the plant is too wet, the crisp stems may snap.
- As the plant grows check your LST sites on the stem, the stem grows very thick and you don't want your twine or whatever your using to cut into the growing stem.