Extreme Indoor Autoflowering Cultivation: Moby Dick XXL Auto

Dinafem's Moby Dick XXL Auto is an auto-flowering variety of cannabis that was a created with a view to satisfying growers who are after abundant, high-quality harvests based on feminised autoflowering seeds. This is a very vigorous and powerful genetic that produces a surprising amount of resin and flowers for an autoflowering variety. In fact, it's an improved version of Dinafem's famous Moby Dick Auto. And this crop is a perfect example gauging its true potential.

Greenvigilante began the germination process by placing 22 Moby Dick XXL seeds on a wet paper towel, inside a 2x2 m closet that he later lit up with four 600-W HPS lamps and some complementary LEDs in the centre. For this crop he employed a central module of 2 75-W LEDs from the British manufacturer Grownorthern LTD, offering great light quality, and an excellent impact on the final product.

This involved the indoor growing of autoflowering marijuana using a coconut fibre substrate, very effective at draining the water and allowing the plant to easily absorb all the mineral salts it needs. He also nourished his plants with B-52 (B vitamins B, ideal at budding time), Big Bud nutrients (for the early flowering) and Overdrive (for the final flowering period).

The third day, after setting up the closet, the lamps, the ventilation system and the pots, Greenvigilante watered the crop by preparing the nutrient solution with 0.3 ml of Roots Excelurator, a product that provides basic nutrients for the formation of the roots, as well as 1 ml of Sensi Grow A & B nutrients (formulated for hydroponic crops) for each litre of irrigation water.

On the seventh day, after germination, carried out under T5 fluorescent lights, this grower placed the seeds in 15 10-litre Air Pot planters, with a root aeration system and adding some granules of Plant Magic to favour growth. He then let four days pass before watering again with nutrients, then again after three days and then again after two.

This is a model that should be followed, he explained, during the growth period (always before the flowers bloom) and that can last about 30 days. During this stage he also incorporated into the irrigation water, for each litre, 2 ml of Sensi Grow A & B, 1 ml of Voodoo Juice, and 0.1 ml of Roots Excelurator. With this contribution of nutrients he obtained a PH of a 5.8 and electrical conductivity (EC) reading of 0.8.

Meanwhile, the grower prepared a 2.2-m SCROG system, ideal for keeping the dimensions of plants grown indoors under control. On Day 20 he had it ready. Until then he continued to apply 2.5 ml of Sensi Grow A & B, 0.2 ml of Roots Excelurator, and 1 ml of Voodoo Juice. During this period, in addition, he began to use LED illumination, and the plants started to exhibit their preflowers, thus initiating weeks of vigorous growth.

The plants grew significantly, in part thanks to a new incorporation: Epsom salt spray. The grower had also installed a drip system, and for each Air Pot used three drippers to deliver the nutrient solution and discard the drainage water, that is, the lost solution. Before using this automatic system with a timer (an Air Pot RTA Dripper System 16) he would spend several hours per day in the closet watering manually. At this time there remained about 14 days for the flowering to begin, and the PH was steady at 5.8, with an EC of 0.8.

On Day 32 some of the plants were already reaching the SCROG meshes, although there remained five to seven days for them to grow towards the left and for all the plants to be at the same level. Greenvigilante then decided to apply a more intense light in order to obtain high-quality cannabis flowers, something that, he explained, he had already tried with other varieties.

By Day 34 the plants had begun to penetrate the upper part of the SCROG. The grower also applied some touches of calcium (0.1 ml - 0.2 mml) and, in the same doses, magnesium. He alternated, one day using one substance, the next only the other. "One must be careful", he explained, "with the amounts of calcium, which cannot be used in excess, as it is two to three times more potent than the other nutrients".

The temperature with the lights on was maintained a bit below 24 degrees. During the final days the plants were fed, for each litre of water, 2 ml of Sensi Grow A & B, 1 ml of Voodoo Juice, 0.15 ml of Roots Excelurator, and 0.10 ml of calcium (or 0.10 ml of magnesium). All these elements maintained the PH at 5.8, and left the EC around 1.1.

When Day 40 was near the plants had totally overrun the SCROG, become robust, and emitted a wonderful aroma. Greenvigilante continued using calcium, magnesium, Sensi Bloom A & B, Voodoo Juice and Roots Excelurator. He also added Carboload, a product that bolsters flowering and notably increases the size of the buds (the PH continued at 5.8, with the EC rising to 1.2). Judging from the cannabis's appearance, the grower believed that its yield would be very good. 

Day 45. The plants had begun to bloom and the canopy of leaves was so thick that it was difficult to handle the cannabis. Initially the grower considered eliminating the mesh from his SCROG system, although he ultimately opted to remove one of the plants so as to leave the rest enough space to continue growing.

Dinafem recommends leaving sufficient space between Moby Dick XXL Auto plants for them to fully grow. The nutrient doses were increased to 2.5 ml of Sensi Bloom A & B, 0.1 ml of magnesium or calcium, 1 ml of B52, and 2 ml of Big Bud for each litre of water. These amounts would be maintained until Day 60.

We come now to Day 49 and, according to the grower, the neighbours had begun to complain about the noise from the lamps' ventilation system (Danger!) To avoid problems Greenvigilante modified the times when the ventilators were activated to keep them from being noticed. 

A few days later the flowering was in full swing. By Day 53 the scent given off by the crops was indescribably delightful. The buds had reached a considerable size and were full of trychomes. In about 15 days they would be ready for harvest.

One of the problems that this grower normally has to deal with when growing big autos is rotting buds. He explained, however, that thanks to the SCROG he obtained an abundance of smaller buds instead of huge ones, which can suffer from this phenomenon. To avoid this, over the last two last weeks he used a lighting cycle of 18/6, lowering every two days until reaching 12/12, which helps to keep the buds from wilting. 

After Day 60 the nutrients applied varied a little. In addition to magnesium, calcium and the Sensi Grow A & B, he added Overdrive, an essential product, above all with hydroponic crops, to keep the plants strong in the home stretch of the flowering process, which would end before 80 days of life.

Following Day 70 the grower began to use only water, for 7 days instead of the customary 10. The scent emanating from some of the buds by this point was absolutely overwhelming.

By Day 75 the grower had completely removed the SCROG in order to be able to remove the plants and photograph them, detecting around 10% of the trychomes featuring an amber colour. After taking down the containment system he left the plants in the closet for 48 hours in complete darkness.

Finally, the duration of the growing period was established at 77 days. By then the anti-odour filters were working full-tilt, because as soon as the closet was opened the whole house was flooded with the aroma of Moby Dick, an intense scent with notes of citrus, pine, exotic wood and to sweet Indica.

Once the marijuana was dried it was observed that the harvest's yield was exceptionally high (an average of 156 g per plant) and the density of the commercial-calibre buds was extreme. Greenvigilante defined the quality of the final product as "sublime."

As this example demonstrates, successfully growing a strain like Dinafem's Moby Dick XXL on a first run is something within the grasp of any grower. Although this marijuana produces a great amount of resin and is very powerful, obtaining a yield like this also calls for a lot of patience, absolute dedication, and a lot of love for cannabis, like that which Greenvigilante feels after having obtained such a magnificent harvest thanks to a genetic that he himself describes as "impressive."

----------------------

With information and photos from Uk420.com