What’s Wrong With Smalls? (1st Grow)

[BudJimson]

What’s up everyone? It’s my first grow and I have 2 plants: Biggie who is thriving (if maybe a little undersized) and Smalls who is not (see pics). Germinated from the same seed pack at the exact same time and have been handled exactly the same except for watering (Smalls gets less water less often judging by her smaller stature and the finger test for soil moisture) up until Biggie started flowering.


Problem: Smalls’ failure to thrive.

Medium/grow method: started in solo cups with Light Warrior, insta-autotransplanted into mix of FFHF and FFOF in 5 gallon fabric pot.

Feed: and supplements used: Silica, Mammoth P, and top dress of KIS Organics nutrient pack at day 25 from sprout at 1/2 recommended amount. Have also started to add NFTG Demeter’s Destiny, Zeus Juice, and The Kraken. Plan on adding homemade LABS, FFJ, and humid acid made by fellow KNF practitioner. Nutrients pH-ed to 6.4 per instructions.

water source: well water pH 6.5-6.7

PH in the root zone: unknown

Strain/age: Gorilla Glue Auto from ILGM day 39 from sprout.

light used: Sungrown

Climate: Central VA (hot and humid)

Additional info: Looks like she is trying hard to grow with lots of new leaves that are just stuck on pause. Biggie is in her 4th week of flower while Smalls is just barely showing sex and has been for over week, but things just seem stalled. She’s looked the same, except for generally bigger in size, for the last couple weeks. It looks like she’s missing some crucial ingredient, hoping someone may have some insights. Any suggestions appreciated.

Biggie and Smalls

Smalls

Biggie (they’re the same age!)

 

[armanidog]

Just asking, you did open up the bottom of the Solo cup on the small plant, right?

 

[BudJimson]

Just asking, you did open up the bottom of the Solo cup on the small plant, right?

I did not on either one except for several 1/4” drainage holes. I used G. Leave’s method with wide panels on the side. FWIW the tap roots had managed to exit the drainage holes, I found them on the outside of the cup when I transplanted.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

@BudJimsonWelcome to AFN. Well as they say live and learn. That is not how you transplant at a minimum you need to cut the bottom half of the cup away. Better yet - especially with autos - don't transplant them. Plant right in the pot they will grow in. A cannabis tap root can grow 9 inches in three days!

Learn how to present balanced nutrients to your plants.

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

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and the roots and microbes will die there. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

Do not stratify soil. The laws of physics dictates that water will not penetrate a layer of soil until the soil layer above is saturated this leads to the issues described above.

Being a farmer has more to it than meets the eye.

You have not failed. You will get some good bud from those plants. Just like all of us who have come before you we learn from every grow.

 

[BudJimson]

@BudJimsonWelcome to AFN. Well as they say live and learn. That is not how you transplant at a minimum you need to cut the bottom half of the cup away. Better yet - especially with autos - don't transplant them. Plant right in the pot they will grow in. A cannabis tap root can grow 9 inches in three days!

Learn how to present balanced nutrients to your plants.

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

What you need to learn about watering will come with practice. Here are the basic rules: Never let the soil dry out. Soil and or coco can become hydrophobic if allowed to dry. This means it repels water. This in turn will create dry pockets in the soil and the roots and microbes will die there. If your soil - coco have accidentally dried out use a surfactant to help re-wet it. I like yucca powder. Don't let soil remain soggy by watering too much too often. Root rot, damping off, molds, fungus gnats and other problems start in soggy soil. When you do water water the entire pot. How to learn when to water starts before you plant the seed. Fill your container with fresh soil/coco and weigh it (heft it) this is the lightest weight and consider it a dry pot. Now slowly water until the soil/coco will no longer absorb the water and run-off begins; weigh the pot (heft it) this is the maximum water, the wettest the pot can get. The difference between wettest and driest is the maximum water weight, for ease of explanation lets just say the water weighs 20 pounds. When the pot loses 10 pounds (half of the water weight) it is time to water again. There is an art to watering.

Do not stratify soil. The laws of physics dictates that water will not penetrate a layer of soil until the soil layer above is saturated this leads to the issues described above.

Being a farmer has more to it than meets the eye.

You have not failed. You will get some good bud from those plants. Just like all of us who have come before you we learn from every grow.

Well then, I’m guessing it’s the roots and I just got lucky with the other plant. Good to know.

Thanks for the words of wisdom! While the goal is to grow great bud, I’m already in love with the process and can lean into these kinds of learning opportunities. I will definitely do things differently next year. I’ve picked up quite a lot from reading this forum; you all have created a real fun, friendly, and knowledgeable community here. Thanks for the warm welcome!

 

[Perpetually Automatic]

Don’t give up on her yet, she might not look as impressive as the other 1 now but she’s still in veg so still has some growing to do.