Indoor Ex-Hydro grower seeks help with new set up LED/Airpots/Soil....

[Spicey]

Hi all,

Long time reader of the AFN, first time poster though, cant big up enough the amount of knowledge on this site

I moved from hydro, using coco and canna products recently. The main reason being my sodium lamps were just way too hot for the space i have (2 x 600w in a 2m x 1m space) and although the yield was always pretty good, quality wasnt that great.

So basically what i have done is swap over to an organic grow and also use LED (grow northern modular 6 series). Stepped down from 8 ladies to now 4 as it will make things much easier when moving around in the room).

My set up in Detail:

Growing Space : 2m length x 1m wide
Filter and Extractor: Yes, 6" extraction
Pots : 10l Airpots
Lighting: GrowNorthern Mod 6 series (270w LED)
Soil : Plant Magic Plus Supreme
Feed: Hesi Feeds Bloom, Super vit, root complex, TNT, Phosphorus plus, Powerzyme
Strain 4 x AutoExtreme (currently at week 5)

Now my main problem is that I think the little ladies are stunted but im only comparing where mine are at next to TaNg's DP AutoXtreme grow and he is the man so I dont know. What im trying to do is trace back my steps to see what went wrong so that it doesnt happen again on the next lot. 4 ladies were hatched and placed under a 110w sunmate propergator for about 2 weeks. They were re-potted around week 4 in to 10l airpots. I have to say that i did not mix any perlite in to this (normally on hydro i would always do this) but the soil seemed really light and fluffy (1st mistake?).

No feed except bottled water was given for the first few weeks. A small amount of the hesi soil range at 1/4 strenght around week 4. I read that the soil contains all the nutes needed for this amount of time. After some research I also read that you do not need to PH when feeding soil (plant magic plus) as it already buffers in the soil. If anyone can correct me on this, please do.

The ladies themselves are the healthiest looking ive ever had under my new LED. Lovely dark green leaves, not a stitch of leaf curl or any signs of stress as i have had in all my previous grows. And the lack of heat problems is an absolute blessing! The tallest is 37cm with the other 3 at around 30cm and my light is 16 inches from the top of the plants.

To be honest, i have felt like a bit of a spare part as they have not required much watering. The compost seemed to hold the moisture for longer than coco under sodium lights. And from week 4 onwards i have been giving them 1/4 feed stepping up to half strength this week (doing this probably every 3-4 days). Also added their first bloom nutes too.

I know someone who is growing the same strain and only a week ahead of me (using coco and canna though) and they are over double the size. Mine definately seem stunted but im not sure if its just the range of nutes that im using, or because i repotted too late, because its organic and therefore slower? Really confused so any help would be greatly appreciated :thumbs:

Thanks in advance..

Ill upload some pictures but its not letting me at the moment for some reason. Will try again...

 

[Spicey]

Healthy but small Any ideas on if there is anything i can do? If at all.

 

[Scott817]

They dont look like runts to me. What light cycle are you using?

 

[Spicey]

Forgot to include that in my info.......they are on 18hr on 6hr off. Is it worth upping this to 20hr on do you think?.

Only reason im panicking a little is that someone i know with exactly the same strain is double the size. Although they are very spindly, their stems are very thin whereas mine are like tree trunks in comparison, just smaller. I know these are a slightly longer AF strain at 12 weeks to complete so maybe they still have a little stretch left in them.

As im new to soil growing and using different nutes compared to Canna A/B etc... can you see anything that i may be doing that is counter-productive to the ladies at all? ie. not feeding regularly enough (in my hydro they just went on drippers and got a feed daily) with these im going by what the ladies tell me, if the soil is still wet...they dont get a feed. Should i feed daily regardless?

Maybe i need to get my sodium light out to boost it a little. Do you think it would make much difference swapping the LED out for my 600w for the last few weeks in terms of yield/growth?

Thanks for getting back to me, your a star :thumbs:

 

[Spicey]

A bit confused as i spoke to an online hydro shop who said that even when you soil grow the water/feed must be PH'd. Ive read a few things online that say otherwise with soil....anyone have any further clarification on this?

Thanks.

 

[Spicey]

Anyone? It does seem the growth rate is affected somehow. Can anyone shed any light on whether this may be a ph problem?

Thanks

 

[realcarlos]

Hold on tight spicey someone will get to you

 

[Red eyed c]

How old are they mate? 4-5 weeks? if so Size wise,they look alright to me mate,once they hit full flower they do have a rapid growth spurt :thumbs: potting up with autos is not really necessary,that could've put them a week behind.starting in the bigger pots works best mate. And with the ph thing its a debate that comes up and divides opinions.if in doubt,its best to ph your feeds and this way you know your not gonna run into a ph issue at some point bud. :smokebuds:
Also in pic 1,your light looks like it could do with moving up a bit,and to the left a little mate,I can see the leaves on the left plant are shaded and the wall on the right getting full led glare,its wasted light bud :thumbs:

 

[evol]

A bit confused as i spoke to an online hydro shop who said that even when you soil grow the water/feed must be PH'd. Ive read a few things online that say otherwise with soil....anyone have any further clarification on this?

Thanks.

I didn't ph my water when I first started growing autos and never got great yields. I have started adjusting the ph before I water my plants and have gotten healthier looking plants with better yields. 6.5 is the ideal ph for your water. Use white distilled vinegar to lower and baking soda to raise.

 

[TaNg]

Hay Spicey growing in soil usually adds a week or two on the grow time plus like Red says re-potting can slow an auto down,I wouldn't worry to much dude your gonna end up with some stinky fats buds at the end.