New Grower First Autoflower (Bubblegum)

[FirstTymer]

Hey guys I just started my first autoflower 3 weeks ago now. 20-4 light schedule under a Mars Hydro TS 600w. Started her in a Happy Frog 1 Gallon pot and just transferred into a 3 Gallon pot of Ocean Forest. No feeding or fertilizers, and have just been giving roughly 500 ML of tap water when dry. I noticed tiny white bugs after I transferred to the Ocean Forest so I ordered beneficial nematodes and they should be here within the next few days. Any advice or tips would be appreciated, now here’s my girl,

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@FirstTymer Welcome to AFN Your pot looks dry? Maybe just the picture?

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and the roots and microbes will die there. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

 

[FirstTymer]

@Mañ'O'Green I appreciate you taking the time to reply And thank you for welcoming me! I’m familiar with the water displacement method of having a second pot filled with soil. I let her dry out cause I was waiting on my nematodes to come in before I watered again, as I need to mix them with my water. Noticed a good amount of bugs and a few fungus gnats so I was afraid of watering again and having even more

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@Mañ'O'Green I appreciate you taking the time to reply And thank you for welcoming me! I’m familiar with the water displacement method of having a second pot filled with soil. I let her dry out cause I was waiting on my nematodes to come in before I watered again, as I need to mix them with my water. Noticed a good amount of bugs and a few fungus gnats so I was afraid of watering again and having even more

Never let your soil dry out for any reason. It leads to as many problems as over watering.

 

[Zer0]

to AFN
What breeder is that bubblegum auto and how big is your grow space?

Your plants look happy but that soil in those pics does look mighty dry. i understand the issue with gnats so buy stuff like:
Amazon product
Amazon product

Kill them early and you won't have a fuck ton of them later, 1 turns into 5 and 5 turns into a fuckton lol.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

hard to drown a plant in a cloth pot.. I know because ive tried.. :smoking:

 

[FirstTymer]

@Zeromitch Closets 24x30x60, ILGM Bubblegum Autoflower was going to go with sticky traps but decided to bite the bullet and get these

 

[FirstTymer]

@Tom Bombadil @Mañ'O'Green Thanks for the replies from everyone, just gave her a good watering. Will update at the end of the week, be patient with me

 

[FirstTymer]

@Mañ'O'Green Do you recommend I use any nutrients/fertilizers with Happy Frog/Ocean Forest, guy at the Hydro store said the soil should be good on everything for 3-4 weeks. Maybe Down To Earth 4-8-4 once it starts flowering?

 

[Zer0]

It should be good for 4 weeks, when you see the bottom leafs turning yellow its time yo feed or past time lol

I have 2 ILGM strains and i so far i have a 100% germ rate with them and great buds too.