Is this any kind of deficiency?

[MestreT]

Hy guys!

First time grower looking for some help. Let me do a quick intro to my setup: I'm groing in soil, 7-8L pot with 25-30% perlite, using a 600w led (136 actual watts) on a 60x60x120 tent. My first lady is a Royal Gorilla autoflower from RQS.

I'm currently on day 13 and noticed something strange on my first true set of fan leaves. One of the leaves has 3 perfect fingers and two small ones still growing, can't even take a picture of them. But the opposite fan leaf has only three fingers, and one of them (the one on the right) has a really wierd shape. The second set of fan leaves is still too small to notice if this issue is happening again. I took the pictures with natural light so it would be easier to spot any problems.

Is this normal? Ever happened to anyone here? Could this be just a small genetic deficiency or could this be a pre-sign of nutrient deficiency? Since she's only on day 13 and growing in soil, I still haven't fed her. Planning on giving her the first npk and cal mag feed around day 15, not to harm the baby roots.

And btw, how do you think this 13 days old lady is doing?

Thanks for the help and happy grows!

 

[LittleMT]

Plant looks fine. At this stage it doesn't need any nutrients, contrary to popular belief with some folks, auto's are light feeders when grown in a soil. I mix 1 part Coco,1 part Ocean Forrest, 1 part Happy Frog and they do well and are very healthy. During this early growth period my focus is in building a microbe population in my root zone, as it grows and developes, there are different species of microbes I use, some that make Nitrogen available to the plant, some species that make Phosphorus available to the plant. a Microbe population needs food so some molasses, a good all around product is all growers Recharge, but again one can get more specific species, in soil grows you feed the soil, in hydro grows you feed the plant, this is not to say that a hydro type nutrient wont work in a soil grow, but what I have laid forth is a general principle. In nature when these wonderful plants grow in the wild, nobody is running around adding nutrients, rather the microbial life in the root zone is making 'food' available to the plant. Allow your plant to grow out some more, she is barely getting started, auto's will hit a period where they get angry and explode with growth, you are not quite there yet.

 

[Waira]

.... just a small growth aberration, which happens on seedlings,... nothing to sweat here!

 

[MestreT]

Thank you both for the help. Quick update today on day 16, second set of fan leaves also appear to have the same growing aberration but much less noticeable, not worried anymore.

But now my concern turned to another issue: I've always read and heard that short internodes is a good thing, for controlling height and keep a short bushy plant but... How short is too short? My baby is oppening the third set of fan leaves but she's only 8cm in height (around 3 inch). Each internodal space is only arround 1" or even less.

I was planning on training with LST around day 20-25 and i'm afraid its going to be an impossible task with such short internodes. Will this be a problem? Should I raise the lights to try to induce some streching before lst?

And by the way, how do you think they are doing for a 16 days old girl?

Thanks and happy grows

 

[MestreT]

And sorry to all for twisting your neck but idk why this site turns my pictures to the left

 

[EvilScotsman]

Plant looks fine. At this stage it doesn't need any nutrients, contrary to popular belief with some folks, auto's are light feeders when grown in a soil. I mix 1 part Coco,1 part Ocean Forrest, 1 part Happy Frog and they do well and are very healthy. During this early growth period my focus is in building a microbe population in my root zone, as it grows and developes, there are different species of microbes I use, some that make Nitrogen available to the plant, some species that make Phosphorus available to the plant. a Microbe population needs food so some molasses, a good all around product is all growers Recharge, but again one can get more specific species, in soil grows you feed the soil, in hydro grows you feed the plant, this is not to say that a hydro type nutrient wont work in a soil grow, but what I have laid forth is a general principle. In nature when these wonderful plants grow in the wild, nobody is running around adding nutrients, rather the microbial life in the root zone is making 'food' available to the plant. Allow your plant to grow out some more, she is barely getting started, auto's will hit a period where they get angry and explode with growth, you are not quite there yet.

"In soil you feed the soil, in hydro you feed the plant"
I like that. Never thought of it that way before. Explains why I've never been able to get my head round why soil growers do the things they do. Thanks bud.

 

[EvilScotsman]

And sorry to all for twisting your neck but idk why this site turns my pictures to the left

You gotta take them in landscape mate. hold your phone sideways when you take em and they come up the right way round.
My option to load photos has totally dissappeared from the menu. I'd show you but... lol

 

[EvilScotsman]

Thank you both for the help. Quick update today on day 16, second set of fan leaves also appear to have the same growing aberration but much less noticeable, not worried anymore.

But now my concern turned to another issue: I've always read and heard that short internodes is a good thing, for controlling height and keep a short bushy plant but... How short is too short? My baby is oppening the third set of fan leaves but she's only 8cm in height (around 3 inch). Each internodal space is only arround 1" or even less.

I was planning on training with LST around day 20-25 and i'm afraid its going to be an impossible task with such short internodes. Will this be a problem? Should I raise the lights to try to induce some streching before lst?

And by the way, how do you think they are doing for a 16 days old girl?

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Thanks and happy grows

They look sweet mate. What are they?
If you want to lst then your best to let em stretch a little. Raise the light a bit and they should grow taller faster. Just make sure your tucking the big fan leaves under to let light into the lower branches and it should all go fairly mental pretty soon.
As far as the 16 days goes your doing pretty well like. Wee bit slow on the start but that doesn't really mean much in the grander scheme of things.
All in pretty good job mate.

 

[LittleMT]

I love my internodes short and tight, I want a bush rather then a tall stem. My current grows are very simple 'micro' grows on my desk, so I want short bushy small plants. Because of this I have my led lights close to the plant, also I use SIL's (screw in LED's) which are not the strongest lights, but again these are grown on my desk as one would a simple houseplant. This is also the main reason I grow autoflowers, as I can have them on a desk and not worry about needing uninterrupted periods of darkness. So you should want the plant to suit your needs and its environment, often these short juvenile bushy plants will stretch. IMO your baby is doing well. Want to induce some stretch then yes raise the lights but IMO if the plant stays small and bushy, you might have more tops and need less LST..... Autoflowers do extremely well just with some simple leaf tucking and will reward you with multiple tops (flowering sites)..

 

[MestreT]

Thank you both for the help and the little boost in my ego!

EvilScotsman, about the slow start I think I made a noobie mistake of sligthly overwatering. I'm starting to learn that with water and nutes, sometimes less is more. You can read all the theory, but you always end up learning on the job.

And guys, regarding tucking, I'm planning on doing that on a daily basis, as needed, but my side branches are still too small so that I can tuck the fan leaves under. Or do you guys do it any other way?

What I've been doing is trying to spread the fan leaves a bit, pushing them slightly down, and it ends up opening the center and allowing light to get to the little baby side branches. The last 2-3 days I noticed a huge boom on their growth.

About the lights I raised them to around 18" today, trying to make her stretch just a tiny bit more before lst. But if she continues with that micro spacing, I won't be loosing my sleep

If you want I'll try to keep you guys updated!

Thanks mates!