Newbie to Autoflowers .. needing some guidance please

[Newbutoldgrower]

Hi everyone.

Just joined the Forum, but been lurking in the shadows doing research on here for 3-4 months. I'm not completely new to growing, just Auto's, have 30 years experience. Have been growing straight in the ground outdoors(Photos) and a bit off indoor growing knowledge, just started indoor growing the last 12 months after an absence of 15 years. So I'm actually a little nervous about this first Auto grow and any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated. This is only the second Forum I have ever joined, GWE being the only other. After doing some research on here and noticing the knowledge a lot of growers have in this Forum, I'm hoping you good people accept me into the community.

About the grow .. I'm using a 4x4 tent, 150mm exhaust fan/passive air intake, and a 600w MH light for veg, 600w HPS for flower. I currently have 9 seedlings 6-7 days old in 3 Gallon fabric pots using 70% coco 30% perlite, and will be using Professors Nutrients for feeding. I have one oscillating fan running between lights and pots, and one around pot height running along the tent wall only. The strains I have started are 4 x Gelato#41, 3 x Skywalker Kush, and 2 x Chimp Glue.

The seedlings have been under the MH light since the 25/07, they were started in plugs in a small cloning tent with a small T5 light. They were put into pots prepared with nutrients at EC 0.6. but have only watered with pH'd water since, 100ml per plant circled around the stem, and keeping outer medium damp with a spray bottle.
I'm hoping I can get some help/advice with the watering as I'm starting to get confused a little with all the research, and worried that the fabric pots are drying out too much(first time using them as well). Any help with when to start Nutrients and amounts would be great, and when to start watering/feeding to run off? I was planning to start 5 of the seedlings on nutrients today at 0.6-0.8 today, they look like they are ready for it, and the others in the next day or so. Then slowly rise the EC to about 1.6 by week 3 to 4. Was also going to water the seedlings that are ready for nutrients to run off today as well. Am I sort of on the right track? As I have a tendency to overthink things and end up getting more confused, help would be greatly appreciated.

Also any advice with the 600w MH light heights would be very helpful, another subject that has got me quite anxious at the moment lol, light is still 36" away. Thanks for your time, and sorry for the long post, just thought I should put as much info as I could to get the best advice. Cheers

 

[Murph]

Heya, let me be the second to welcome you to the forums.

Since you're using coco you need to feed from the get go, espeeeecially if you have buffered coco. Coco is an inert hydroponic medium and will accept anything you put into it.. buut it will also leech calcium & magnesium and put out some sodium for you to enjoy some nicely salted plants.
When watering coco you always feed. Starting out at .6ec is quite on point, just do it everytime and water as much as you need to get 10-20% runoff. For me that's usually 10% of the pot volume in water every second day at the start, every day after the first month and 2ce a day in the final streches.

Unfortunately I have no experience with oldschool lights so can't be of help there. But my guess if they put off quite a bit of ir so not getting them too close seems to be a wise choice.

 

[Newbutoldgrower]

Thank you for the welcome and reply buddy. appreciate it. After all the research on here and other sites I have just gotten a bit confused, I run coco in my Photo tent with nutrients from the start. I have been reading a few articles/tutorials that say just to use pH'd water for the first 7-10 days until plant is established, so thanks for setting things straight for me. I actually prepared the pots with nutrients at 0.6 and thought I better just use pH'd water lol.

I have just finished updating my other tent with a third ES 300, and plan on updating this light by my next grow. I had a couple of 600w dimmable digital HID lights already, so thought i would invest in a good tent and exhaust fan first, then update lights later. The Skywalker Kush started to stretch a bit, so have lowered the light to 33" now.

Thanks again for help and setting things straight for me. Cheers

 

[Newbutoldgrower]

Hey everyone.

Just a bit of an update on my first Auto grow. All plants seem to be healthy and growing well. I am now feeding the plants nutrients around 1 to 1.2L every second day to run off, with an EC of 0.8. The plants are starting to look a little dull in color but still healthy, so will raise the EC towards 1.0 on the next couple of feedings. Humidity and temps having been too bad, HIGH temp 24.7°C humidity 63% LOW temp 17.3° humidity 45%, but could be improved some. The light is sitting at 30" from canopy and will lower it to 28" over the next few days. The Gelato #41 and
Chimp Glue were 14 days old yesterday(07/08), and the Skywalker Kush 12 days old.

One thing I have never seen before is the single leaf growing out of the middle of the plant (refer to pics), two of the Gelato #41 plants. Has anyone seen this before? Should I be worried?

I have uploaded some pics taken yesterday and hoping to get some feedback on the progress of the plants, any advice/help/criticism is most welcome. Thanks for your time .. Cheers

 

[MR.Amsterdam365]

Wats wrong with my daughter leaves??

 

[Newbutoldgrower]

View attachment 1353223
Wats wrong with my daughter leaves??

Hey buddy. Without more information about your grow its hard to give advice/opinion on what is going on. From what I can see and by going back through a couple of your previous posts, I think you might have a couple of things going on with your plant. Have you checked your plants for pests eg. Broad Mites? I had similar symptoms like this pic and your previous post and I ended up having Broad Mites. A couple of other things I would be looking at if it was my grow would be wind burn, over/underwatering and nitrogen toxicity. But like I mentioned earlier, without more info on the grow its hard to give a proper opinion. Good luck buddy.

 

[v4p3r_cl0ud]

Light might not be strong enough too. What lighting are you using?

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hey everyone.

Just a bit of an update on my first Auto grow. All plants seem to be healthy and growing well. I am now feeding the plants nutrients around 1 to 1.2L every second day to run off, with an EC of 0.8. The plants are starting to look a little dull in color but still healthy, so will raise the EC towards 1.0 on the next couple of feedings. Humidity and temps having been too bad, HIGH temp 24.7°C humidity 63% LOW temp 17.3° humidity 45%, but could be improved some. The light is sitting at 30" from canopy and will lower it to 28" over the next few days. The Gelato #41 and
Chimp Glue were 14 days old yesterday(07/08), and the Skywalker Kush 12 days old.

One thing I have never seen before is the single leaf growing out of the middle of the plant (refer to pics), two of the Gelato #41 plants. Has anyone seen this before? Should I be worried?

I have uploaded some pics taken yesterday and hoping to get some feedback on the progress of the plants, any advice/help/criticism is most welcome. Thanks for your time .. Cheers

With HID lamps just use the back of your hand method to determine light placement. Hold your hand back side up at the top of the canopy. If your hand is uncomfortable warm move the light up. If it is too cool move it down. Be careful when the plants are stretching to stay ahead of the growth with raising the lights.

Your temps are getting a bit too low. Shoot for 68°F/20°C night and 77°F/25°C Day.

Coco is best run wetter than you are doing it. Letting the outside edges dry will allow salts to build up on the inside of the pot. It is more desireable for that to happen on the outside and not at all on the inside. I do not know about your nutrient line but as long as it is designed for coco follow their schedule.

I love growing mutant plants. You may have one or not? Too early to tell? I keep hoping my mutants will be the best thing since OG!

Have fun

 

[Zer0]

Everything looks good, have not seen maybe people using those old school lights much these days as LEDs are cheaper but we use what we have am i right?

The only issue/problem i see is growing 9 autos in a 4x4, i tried this in my 4x4 last grow and i ended up taking a few plants out and put some in other tents, its a pain in the ass to water the back row and they will start to crowd each other for light but you are no new grower and must know this stuff, i am new and thought cramming it full would work but it was a disaster for me, now i won't go over 5 plants in a 4x4

 

[420Forever]

View attachment 1353223
Wats wrong with my daughter leaves??

if u have a ques about ur plantz, plz fire up ur own thread in this same section (link below), instead of intruding into someone else'z thread...it'z a matter of respect ppp

https://www.autoflower.org/forums/new-growers-forum/