Monster 1.3kg Auto Daiquiri Lime grown in a SCROG using LED by a hydroponics pro

About the grower: LED, hydroponic & SCROG master

420autoflower is an expert American hydro grower who grows his plants mostly indoors with LED but occasionally he takes his hydro/SCROG setup outdoors too, with the same massive high yielding plants and results.

Around the same time as this grow, 420autoflower also grew a dozen different Dutch Passion cannabis seed varieties, including this insane 1Kg Auto Glueberry OG. But this 1.3Kg Auto Daiquiri Lime was the largest & heaviest yielding of them all.

Reaching 1.3kg dry buds (almost 3 pounds) from one plant with ease was an amazing result and shows what can be achieved by home growers who combine top quality cannabis seeds with an expertly controlled grow room and a lot of TLC.

Dutch Passion pass their sincere respect to this remarkable grower! Prepare to be amazed by 420autoflower pushing Dutch Passion genetics to the limit in the USA. We include all the grow details & method for those seeking similar results themselves.

Auto Daiquiri Lime & the 420autoflower SCROG method

During this grow journal we carefully highlight the four crucial steps that 420autoflower takes and explain the hydro-scrog technique, also known as the 420autoflower SCROG method. Comments from 420autoflower are in italics.

Cannabis seedling & vegetative growth

Little to report during cannabis seed germination (early Dec 2023) apart from this remark.

Besides a few beans that didn’t pop, germination went as planned/normal.

Step 1 – Pre-growth before scrogging

The first stage of this remarkable method is simply to allow the autoflower to grow naturally for the first 5-6 weeks. Leaf tucking and selective defoliation is required from day 17-25 to expose the nodes, after that daily defoliations are done all the way up until the first schwazz.

Whatever I can’t tuck I pluck! […] Here is my biggest girl… she’s a Dutch Passion Auto Daiquiri Lime that is going into beast mode. I really need her to start showing me some preflower pistils or I might run into a problem.

Step 2: Defoliation (‘schwazzing’) leaf strip during VEG and placing under the SCROG net

After about 6 weeks, 420 autoflower conducted a fairly heavy defoliation of his Auto Daiquiri Lime (see original grow diary). Note how the majority of the foliage was removed, especially on the lower branch parts.

Though this process may intimidate the less experienced grower, the best autoflower seed varieties really are tough enough to take it.

My Dutch Passion Daiquiri Lime is going through her preflower stretch so I scrogged her today. She’s definitely a beauty with over an 32”/81cm canopy and should be a couple-of-pounds (~1kg) if I don’t screw things up.

Below you can see the Auto Daiquiri Lime after her first defoliation. Some of the upper leaves were left. Much of the foliage on lower branch parts has been removed. At this stage, note how strong and tall the branches are.

Then, using the super cropping technique, the main branches were gently squeezed between thumb and finger until the plant fibres inside were gently crushed. This technique is known as super cropping and it allows the branches to have the temporary flexibility to be flattened underneath the SROG net. Note how the super cropped branches look considerably limper and floppier after super cropping.

Related:
Super cropping how-to guide

With the Auto Daiquiri Lime heavily defoliated and super cropped, the 3” (7.5cm) nylon SCROG net was gently and gradually lowered in place. Once the SCROG net was in place, the canopy was permanently flattened as shown below.

Within 2-3 weeks the Auto Daiquiri Lime had started to grow vertically filling the SCROG net with numerous future bloom points

At this stage, the first 2 stages of the 4-point method were complete. The Auto Daiquiri Lime was established and around 61 days old and in early bloom. Thanks to the brave use of super cropping, the net had created a low canopy with numerous bloom points.

Many growers will wonder how this method can work, given that the autoflowers are already (at this stage) 61 days old. Most autoflower seed varieties are ready to harvest around day 75.

However one theory is that the high stress training methods used (supercropping, heavy defoliation, use of very low SCROG net) all serve to stress the plant and slow down the natural bloom process. This allows the grower an extra month or so for the autoflower to reach maturity.

And when it does so, with all the extra bloom points and additional flowering time, the yields can be historic. Assuming expert nutrition & lighting levels are maintained, of course.

Flowering stage

Step 3. Another heavy defoliation at day 70.

420autoflower continued to do a great job keeping his Auto Daiquiri Lime in the nutrient sweet-spot. But another heavy defoliation was necessary once the plant was around 70 days old. The defoliation took 4 hours.

Sometimes this process of defoliation is referred to as leaf stripping, schwazzing or lollypopping. The principle is to allow more light to reach the bloom points AND to allow better air flow/circulation.

Although the more-cautious growers are afraid to remove so many leaves, the toughest genetics can take it without the stress causing hermaphrodism.

Once the leaf-stripping was finished the blooms were much clearer to see. Those wishing to emulate the 420autoflower mega-yield method shouldn’t feel afraid to remove similar amounts of foliage.

420autoflower was impressed with the progress so far…

Auto Daiquiri Lime is gearing up to be a beast bro… I just spent a few hours and stripped her down for the 3rd time and still have one more heavy defoliation to go. She should be a heavy weight if I can get the density in the kolas and get her all the way down the home stretch without any major issues.

Though the day-70 defoliation seemed severe, within 5 days a huge amount of foliage had re-appeared!

Step 4: Day 74, new LED lights placed underneath the canopy to reduce larf/popcorn buds & increase yield

The 4th, and final, stage of the 420autoflower grow method is to add LED lighting to illuminate beneath the canopy. 420autoflower used two angled LED panels (facing upwards) to bathe the lower blooms in light.

This allows optimised bud/resin production below the canopy, fattening up the otherwise ‘fluffy’ popcorn buds. Whilst relatively few growers utilise under-lighting, the results are extremely impressive.

3 weeks later the Auto Daiquiri Lime was 91 days old. Much of the foliage has grown back and the blooms were fattening up at an incredible rate. Note, in the picture below, the huge number of blooms emerging thanks to the SCROG.

Around 10 days later the lady and especially it’s buds had grown a lot in size & density, and you could see the positive effects of the bottom lights on the lower bud sites clearly now too.

420autoflower explains more about his LED lighting.

Hitting her with a total of 400 watts at the moment… 240 watts above canopy and 160 watts under canopy

Some growers will be surprised that a final dry yield of 1.3Kg was achieved with just 400W of LED (around 3grams per watt). However, it is important to remember that whilst just 400W was used, it was applied for 24 hours each day over a total grow cycle of 122 days.

The extra-long grow cycle, 6-7 weeks longer than usual (probably influenced by the ‘high stress’ bloom period) allowed the plants to soak up all the light energy that was needed to produce such an extravagant yield.

A third defoliation was also performed, though the date was uncertain. One of the take-aways from this grow is that the best autoflower seed varieties really can handle plenty of leaf-stripping!

Harvest after 122 days, few autoflowers have been grown to these proportions!

420autoflower followed his 4-step proven method, with precise nutrient control:

• Step 1. His Auto Daiquiri Lime was grown naturally for 6 weeks.
• Step 2. Then she was heavily defoliated and placed carefully under the SCROG net.
• Step 3. At day 70 the SCROGGED plant was given a second heavy defoliation.
• Step 4. At day 74 the LED panels were added to illuminate underneath the canopy.

This was 420autoflowers best result yet!

The Daiquiri Lime is coming down in the next couple days. She’s more than ready! The Daiquiri Lime weighed in at 1316 grams and was also grown hydroponically in a 2-gallon plastic grow bag filled with coco/perlite under a $109 240 watt FarmLite

I was burning a total of 400 watts for the last 6 weeks of flower… 240watts above canopy and 160watts under canopy. The inexpensive $109 240-watt FarmLite and a couple of old $39 100watt Maxisun QB boards turned up to 80% ended up producing 3.29 grams per watt.

Final Height:
27”/69cm

Calyx-leaf ratio (Easy trim/yes or no):
Average, ok trim

Quality (Resin/Smell/Compactness):
Solid resin development, strong smell and good density

Yield:
Dutch Passion Auto Daiquiri Lime, 1316 grams (2.93 pounds)

Remarks after curing:
Buds/colas turned out rock hard and greasy with sweet grape candy terps