New Grower Help Please LED UFO grow still short after Day 16......

[FLcracker6]

I am a complete newbie but have been doing my research. Thought I was ready. I'm on day 16 from the time my seedling broke surface. I am growing a Auto #1 with a 90 watt LED UFO. 18'' from top of plant. My soil is MG Organic with 1/3 Perlite. 3 gallon pot. 4x2x6 tent with exhaust fan.
My Problem is that my seedling seems to be smaller then I thought it would be at this time. I am watering every 3 or 4 days only when the soil feels dry a couple inches down.. Temp is running around 75 degrees to 81 degrees. Humidity around mid 40's. Light schedule is 18/6. I just added a couple of CFL's as side lighting thinking that may help?? Any help would be great!!

 

[namvet25]

Have you gave her nutes yet? You can feed her 1/4 dose of veg nutes now.Also I would lower your ufo down a little closer.Also make sure your ph is correct.

 

[FLcracker6]

Thanks for the quick reply! PH is reading 6.8. I lowered the Ufo down 6 inches and I ordered FOX farm nutes a few days ago so as soon as it comes in I will had 1/4 does of grow big.
I will keep you updated. Thanks again.

 

[Gonzo]

I am a complete newbie but have been doing my research. Thought I was ready. I'm on day 16 from the time my seedling broke surface. I am growing a Auto #1 with a 90 watt LED UFO. 18'' from top of plant. My soil is MG Organic with 1/3 Perlite. 3 gallon pot. 4x2x6 tent with exhaust fan.
My Problem is that my seedling seems to be smaller then I thought it would be at this time. I am watering every 3 or 4 days only when the soil feels dry a couple inches down.. Temp is running around 75 degrees to 81 degrees. Humidity around mid 40's. Light schedule is 18/6. I just added a couple of CFL's as side lighting thinking that may help?? Any help would be great!!View attachment 342456View attachment 342455

I have done many autos recently and screwed enough to see a little bit what is going on with your plant.

My guess is:

You started with weak LED, which draws 55W only. Besides, this is LED without lenses, that concentrate and narrow light spread (most probably from what I can see). That means 18" is too far. That is why your plant is quite leggy.

40 RH is far too low for seedling. I think that leaves are dried from the very beginning. Seedlings love moist. And 81F, that is 27C with 40RH and sedling?

Instead of lightly moisting surface of soil, you had dried it and so it was even more dry around little plants. They have poor roots and can not supply water for refreshing plant and for chemical processes that we see as growth at the same time.

You have big pots and most probably, they have not dried deep, because plant does not suck much water, and there is a lot of water deep in soil and pot is very heavy. Is it?

So, your plant has been suffering low humidity on surface and in the air, poor light and wet soil down there, with little oxygen, that roots need, and a lot of water and nutrients, that it does not need yet.

So maybe a new one in a little smaller pot, light lower, poor watering and very humid around, some cover would help, I often use it for first days.
:Sharing One:

 

[faded187]

you don't know what ur humidity really is if ur gauge is on top of ur light where the fan is it needs to be under the light where the plant is to get an acuaal reading.seen it in the pic and thought id throw that out there,also miracle gro only if u have to.if u got the money at least order some fox farm happy frog and don't forget to lime it.hope this helps a little at least. good luck ure almost there

 

[FLcracker6]

Gonzo, Thanks for the words of wisdom! I had ordered a few other Auto seeds (Berry ryder, Auto pounder and hadfew freebies thrown in the mix). My UFO claims to be 180w 9 bands.. You think I should call it quits on this plant and try again with a fox farm soil with perlite and lower that light right off the bat?

Faded187, Thanks for the advice. I actually have two temp gauges in the tent. One being on the light and one down low. You think happy frog is better then the ocean forest?

Thanks guys!

 

[virginia gent]

Hello and welcome. Don't give up, you may not get the best yeild but you will learn and that's important. I used a 135w UFO (and 4 4ft t5s) to grow 5 plants my first grow, not a very good grow but it worked. I would recomend a 20/4 lights and do your first feed with tiger bloom and big bloom at 5ml tb and 10bb per gallon of areated 6.5ph water. Use about 1600-2000ml (about 1/2gal) to get a good run-off, this will also get the soil wet all the way down. After about 10 days it is harder to over water and you have plently of perlite. Grow big is strong and will drop your ph so I only use 5ml (1tsp) after the first feed. Ask questions and most of all have fun. Good luck and good karma.

 

[Gonzo]

Gonzo, Thanks for the words of wisdom! I had ordered a few other Auto seeds (Berry ryder, Auto pounder and hadfew freebies thrown in the mix). My UFO claims to be 180w 9 bands.. You think I should call it quits on this plant and try again with a fox farm soil with perlite and lower that light right off the bat?

Faded187, Thanks for the advice. I actually have two temp gauges in the tent. One being on the light and one down low. You think happy frog is better then the ocean forest?

Thanks guys!

Your light is then just fine, you will only have to use it a bit lower. But your light is not the only trouble, seems.

I do not know for others, but in my garden, weak plants go out. This way everything go faster, also my learning. This is the picture of 17 days old plant, which was discontinued with light 2 days ago, because it was too small. I keep perpetual garden and I wanted to plant 2 new ones earlier, so I had put them in small unventilated closed, but it did not work. Struggle with dry environment was too tough. I simply made a mistake, I was sure that could not happen any more, but it did. So I corrected it immediatelly and planted new ones.



With autos, everything is literally race with limited time and YOU HAVE to breed properly, if you want to be satisfied. And even then you will not be satisfied perhaps. I have not been so far.

But it is not necessary, that you go my way. Many people enjoy small growths and like their plants no matter how fast they grow. I am afraid many of them do not cover their needs for dry buds at the end, but have some fun.

I just want to share some thougts with you, you will decide for yourself.

Some things in growing are a must and some are up to you. Killing weak plants is up to you. You do not really need to do it, as you need to water them.

Besides, what are your expectations?

 

[dingo]

You need to understand that your lights are 25% in light output to most grows here. Therefore your growth rate and end results will be 75% less. Your grow is fine for the low light you offer your grow.
However it is recommended a far better light in your grow room will provide much better results. You could add some more flouros now to improve your yield in 8 weeks.
Your 180w LED is really about 120w, as they throttled back to increase life span. The LEDs add up to 180w but only 120w is made available.

Good luck and each grow you should get better at.

 

[az2000]

You need to understand that your lights are 25% in light output to most grows here.

Are you saying most people use 720w LED fixtures for a single plant? Or, most people use 468w actual electricity on a single plant, regardless of the type of light (HID, HPS, T5HO, etc?)

If a single plant takes 2x2' space, 468w would be 117w per sq ft. I thought 40w sq ft was the optimal range, near 50w being the point of diminishing returns.

Frank/Rosenthal[1] say this for t5ho. Not sure how it translates for other types of light. Assuming 40w is the "best." That would be 160w actual energy for a 4x4' area. This would be a 240w fixture drawing 155w actual.

In the case of the OP, 110w actual would be 27.5. Not too bad. Well above what Frank/Rosenthal say is the recommended minimum. (They said a cannabis plant will grow with as little as 10w sq. ft., recommends 20w as minimum and 40w optimal.). I know people will debate the numbers. But, my point is just that the OP doesn't appear to be under-lit that much. Just 10w-20w under-lit (per sq. ft.), not 90w.

[1]

"The amount of light you supply and the length of the tube determine the size of the garden. Marijuana will grow with as little as 10 watts per square foot of growing area, but the more light you give the plants, the faster and larger they will grow. We recommend at least 20 watts per square foot. The minimum-size garden contains a four-foot fixture with two 40-watt tubes, which use a total of 80 watts. Dividing total watts by 20 (watts per square foot) gives 80w divided by 20w/sq. ft=four sq.ft. (an area one by four feet). A four-tube (80 watts each) eight-foot fixture would give: 320w divided by 20w/sq. ft. = 16 sq. ft. or an area the length of the tube and about two feet wide.
...
The more light you give the plants, the faster they will grow. Near 50w/sq. ft. a point of diminishing returns is reached, and the yield of the garden is then limited by the space the plants have to grow. For maximum use of electricity and space, about 40w/sq. ft. is the highest advisable. Under this much light the growth rate is incredible. More than one grower has said they can hear the plants growing - the leaves rustle as growth changes their position. In our experience, standard-output tubes can work as well as or better than VHO's if four or more eight-food tubes are used in the garden."
-- The Marijuana Growers Guide, p. 34.