Help improve my setup/growing practices

[Stilg7]

Hey everyone, I've been growing for a little over a year and a half now and still consider myself a new grower for the most part. With that said I want to dial in my setup as best as possible. So far I've only grown autoflowers from msnl. Now that I have a better grasp of all of this and several grows under my belt I want to focus on growing the best flower as possible. My current grow I have 2x Auto Tangerine Dream from msnl growing in 3gal smart pots, coco/perlite is my medium. They are about 30 days from sprout and still no sign of pistils. With that said I did some more research on autoflower breeders and found Mephisto seeds. After this grow I plan on using Meph/Night Owl and other top end auto breeders from here on out. Using top shelf genetics I want to make sure my grow build is capable of taking full advantage of them.

My tent is 4x2x6 and I'm using 2x 96QB elites with a HLG-320H-54A driver. The rest of my equipment I bought based on cocoforcannabis website's reccomendations. I grow two autoflowers at a time in 3 gal smart pots. I germinate my seeds in damp paper towels in between two plates, placed on top of a heating mat. Germinated seeds go into jiffy pellets, then into nursery bags and finally into 3 gal smart pots. My growing medium of choice is coco/perlite, 70/30. The coco I usually use is Royal Gold's coco fiber bags. I use General Hydro's line of nutes and this feeding schedule to a T-https://www.cocoforcannabis.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/CFC-Nutes-82018WEB.jpg. I mix the nutes with city water running through a RO system and only hand water my plants. I use a floor fan and a few wireless clip on fans for circulation. The temp in my tent stays between 80-85 degrees year round while maintaining right around 50% humidity. With my current grow I started trying out LST, here are some pictures of my setup and current grow.

Looking in to bettering my tent and growing practices I've came across a few things that made me question what I've been doing and that's why I made this post. I've read that I might not have enough light for my tent. I've read that autoflowers need fewer nutes than photos so maybe my feeding schedule isn't working for my girls. I could keep going but those are two of the major issues I feel could be robbing me of better harvests. Without going in to more detail I'd like ask you guys now what it is you think I can do to take my grows to the next level. Any and all advice is greatly appreciated, thanks in advance

 

[The Bedroom Gardener UK]

Not sure on the lights bud, as LEDs are not my thing. I will say that your plants look fine to me, maybe a little stocky for 30 days, but as they've not hit flower yet then there is plenty time to shoot up. That's not to say you shouldn't get bigger lights, but for the minute your plants look good.

@St. Tom is the guy I'd go to about a coco setup, so I've tagged him in. I normally use about 3/4 of the recommended amount of nutes for my autos, unless it's a mix specifically for them. I grow soil though, so different game really.

 

[LabRat]

From the look of those plants I'd say your lights are very adequate but I'm no LED guru either. I've been growing under HIDs mainly for decades.

The only thing I see wrong is a mild case of tip burn on the plant on the right so you're barely overfeeding if at all. Wouldn't hurt to back off 10% so you don't end up with toxic salts buildup that will start frying leaves half way thru flower. I like to see how little I can feed before some big fans start to yellow then go up a bit so I'm sure I'm not feeding to much. High N feed can retard the onset of flower too so maybe feed Lucas Formula style to reduce the N but still get great growth and heavy flowering. Easy-peasy. Just drop the grow and feed half as much Micro as you do Bloom. That's a ratio of 0-1-2, (GMB). I feed that way after the stretch with all my plants using AN 3-part.

I've been growing in ProMix HP for at least a dozen years and Sunshine Mix #4 for years before that but bought a big bag of coco a couple days ago just to try it out. Way too expensive compared to HP but want to see how it performs in comparison so will get around to doing a side-by-side with a couple of identical clones from the same mother later this year. I loves my HP and it works great right out of the bale if that's what a guy wants. No nutes same as coco so must have nutes added right from the start but no screwing around with adding extra calmag as it has that built in and best to allow to dry almost right out between waterings unlike coco.

Good luck and the plants look great so far!

 

[CannabisMingus]

Might want to dial in VPD (see attached). Use a IR thermometer and go by leaf temp. A humidifier can be a great tool. Inkbird makes an inexpensive and reliable RH controller. IMHO, YMMV, etc.

 

[Perpetually Automatic]

If you intend to carry on growing 2 at a time in that space I’d suggest possibly increasing your pot size to maybe 5 or 6 gal. You should definitely see in increase in plant size/yield.

 

[Stilg7]

If you intend to carry on growing 2 at a time in that space I’d suggest possibly increasing your pot size to maybe 5 or 6 gal. You should definitely see in increase in plant size/yield.

I would like to move toward 3 plants at a time because the Meph packs I bought are all packs of 3. What do you guys think, is there enough room for another auto in a 3gal pot? I would remove the floor fan and add 4 clip on fans.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

i've done 5 in my 2x4 tent.....freaking crowded as a mosh pit so I'm going to drop to 3 when I crank up again...lights seem to be getting the job done but not sure on your bud density, switched to ts 1000's from ts 600's and it helped on the density but was about the same growth wise...

 

[Perpetually Automatic]

I would like to move toward 3 plants at a time because the Meph packs I bought are all packs of 3. What do you guys think, is there enough room for another auto in a 3gal pot? I would remove the floor fan and add 4 clip on fans.

Yeah I’d say you’d comfortably fit another 3 gal in there but also depends on which strains you’ll be running… 3 mephisto hubbabubbasmelloscopes and you may have some issues…

 

[Delps8]

Might want to dial in VPD (see attached). Use a IR thermometer and go by leaf temp. A humidifier can be a great tool. Inkbird makes an inexpensive and reliable RH controller. IMHO, YMMV, etc.
[/QUOTED]
Another convert to VPD here. I popped for a PulseOne and it was money well spent.

 

[Stilg7]

I'm starting to look into the IR's and PPFD meters. Are these needed if I have a PAR meter already? Do I need to spend big money on them? Any and all information I can get about these before I buy (if even needed) would be greatly appreciated.