New Grower My First Grow. Finally. Feedback appreciated!

[BoCoGrow]

there's so much to learn and I've kind of put nutes off).

RE nutes, this is a good primer if you haven't seen it before:

Tutorial - A word on Nutrients

The proper use of “salt” based fertilizer to grow Auto Flowering Cannabis. Salts: Natural and man made any chemical compound formed from the reaction of an acid with a base, with all or part of the hydrogen of the acid replaced by a metal or other cation. Learning how to use salt based...

www.autoflower.org

And if you ever do experience nute problems, Man O Green is a great resource on here for help. Good luck!

 

[indicalla]

Build A Soil has some great products. I'm interested in experimenting to find what works best for me, so I recently ordered their 3.0 soil (which is supposed to be a water only medium from start to finish), as well as their light mix soil which I will use at the top center for my seed. So much to learn still!

Did I run into any problems, oh boy! Yeah, I'm using RO water, and someone I know who is a long-time grower recommended I use Cal-Mag every time I water. In hindsight, I realize that was a bad recommendation because feeding Cal-Mag without other amendments to create a balanced nutrient solution led to lockout. I was able to save the plants but they clearly look like they suffered. I also use silica, which if you are unfamiliar helps strengthen cell walls and helps the plant cope better with environmental issues and fluctuations. I will be experimenting with humic acid and amino acids, but for now, since I've already damaged these plants, and they have about 3 weeks left to go before harvest, I don't want to mess with them anymore. I'm going to add another 1" layer of Build A Flower to the top of the pots tonight, and from then on, I'm just going to feed them water until harvest. Here is one of my girls, pic taken yesterday. You can see the damaged yellow leaf at the bottom from the lockout (and that isn't the only one), but she is still churning out the trichs!
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Looking good, despite your challenges! I'm excited to see any harvest pics you post. Good photos.

I specifically wondered if you'd felt the FFOF was too hot in that first month.

 

[BoCoGrow]

Looking good, despite your challenges! I'm excited to see any harvest pics you post. Good photos.

I specifically wondered if you'd felt the FFOF was too hot in that first month.

During the first month, the leaves were very dark green (too much N) but the leaves were otherwise healthy, and growth was fast after that first week when the plant is focused on building a root zone to support a fast growing plant. My Roc Bud plants seemed able to cope with the amount of nutes in FFOF, but each strain is different, and some won't like it. But no, no tip burn, clawing, or anything else that was a concern. After that first month, and because I waited too long to amend the soil, the leaves started drooping 24/7 and the coloring on the leaves stopped being uniform. They just looked sad. The signs of nutrient lockout didn't show for another week or two after that.

 

[indicalla]

A quick question: A few days ago I'd pre-watered my 5-gallon pots, as I'd read it's good to do that the day before planting. I did this as I had expected my germinating seeds to pop more quickly than they have -- still waiting there.

Obviously those pots have dried out to some extent.

Should I saturate all of the soil and let it sit for a night again once I see tap roots and know I'm close to being ready to plant? I'm hoping these babies pop by tomorrow morning.

 

[420Forever]

A quick question: A few days ago I'd pre-watered my 5-gallon pots, as I'd read it's good to do that the day before planting. I did this as I had expected my germinating seeds to pop more quickly than they have -- still waiting there.

Obviously those pots have dried out to some extent.

Should I saturate all of the soil and let it sit for a night again once I see tap roots and know I'm close to being ready to plant? I'm hoping these babies pop by tomorrow morning.

all that'z needed is light misting of the topsoil 3-4 timez daily ppp

 

[indicalla]

all that'z needed is light misting of the topsoil 3-4 timez daily ppp

Thanks for your feedback -- so you don't suggest saturating the soil before planting at all? Just lightly misting until she pops out? Or are you suggesting I just mist because I've already saturated my soil?

I realize this is really elementary, but it's actually been a source of confusion for me since I've been researching.

 

[BoCoGrow]

Thanks for your feedback -- so you don't suggest saturating the soil before planting at all? Just lightly misting until she pops out? Or are you suggesting I just mist because I've already saturated my soil?

I realize this is really elementary, but it's actually been a source of confusion for me since I've been researching.

RE watering, here is another recommended piece of information from Man O Green:

https://www.autoflower.org/threads/week-2.82853/#post-2413980

 

[DCLXVI]

Once you do transplant your seedling/sprout, water in a circle around it and not on it. Very very small amounts and do so gently. Misting as suggested is not a bad idea either. Placing some sort of clear humidity dome for the first few days will depend on your environment and the humidity in the grow space.

As long as your soil has been wet and not completely dried out you should be good. You could always lightly water the top again so it's wet but not saturated.

 

[420Forever]

Just lightly misting until she pops out?

:smoking: u want the soil like a nice moist chocolate cake, mmmmmm.... ppp

 

[indicalla]

Once you do transplant your seedling/sprout, water in a circle around it and not on it. Very very small amounts and do so gently. Misting as suggested is not a bad idea either. Placing some sort of clear humidity dome for the first few days will depend on your environment and the humidity in the grow space.

As long as your soil has been wet and not completely dried out you should be good. You could always lightly water the top again so it's wet but not saturated.

Thanks for linking that! It’s consistent with my plan, so that’s reassuring. My only question was whether or not I should slowly saturate the soil again before transplanting, since it’ll have been a good five days probably. It’s definitely not dried out but it’s drier by the day.

I think what I’ll do is:

1. As soon as (if?) these damn seeds initially pop, I’ll slowly water to a bit of runoff again.
2. I’ll test the runoff PH so I have an idea how to adjust the PH of my next full watering. I want to get my soil runoff between 6.3 and 6.5.
3. I’ll let the saturated soil sit in the tent under the lights while the tap roots extend for a day or so.
4. I’ll transplant when the tap roots are a quarter to a half an inch into the pots which will be moist but not soaking and tempered properly.
5. I’ll lightly mist each day until I see my babies emerge under the clear plastic cups I’m using as domes.
6. I’ll very lightly water around the sprouts once a day until I’m in need of a full watering again. Just a capful of water or so max.
7. When the pots are about half weight, I’ll water with PHed water informed by my previous soil PH and check my runoff again to see how its PH was affected and again adjust my approach for the next watering.

So much to learn here! For my first grow, I’m trying to be diligent about a few key factors:

1. Control temperature
2. Control humidity
3. Know my soil’s PH and learn how to adjust water to keep it as close to 6.3-6.5 as I can.
4. Don’t overwater
5. Don’t overfeed
6. Give them as much light as they’ll take but not too much

I know there’s more to it than that, but I think if I keep those things in mind and control them as carefully as a newb can manage, I’ll be okay.