Are my Autoflower’s small for their age? Could they be stunted already? I planted the germinated seeds in their final 5 gal Smart Pots. They are each a different strain. The 2 biggest plants popped out of the soil on June 1st. The other 2, about 3 to 4 days later. They all seem smaller (especially the the 2 that popped later) than they should be at 18-22 days old.
Do my Autos look small and stunted for their age? 18-22 days old
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
When you bung little roots in big soil, the next couple of weeks is the roots building
Then they will take off
Then they will take off
skirk
Well-Known Member
They may be a bit behind the power curve. In that timeframe a fifth node should be easily discernable.
Rasterman
Well-Known Member
The one in the upper right corner looks about where it should be, but you still have a few weeks before they start flowering. Are you being really careful with the water on the bottom two? If you are you might want to start giving a little more.Are my Autoflower’s small for their age? Could they be stunted already? I planted the germinated seeds in their final 5 gal Smart Pots. They are each a different strain. The 2 biggest plants popped out of the soil on June 1st. The other 2, about 3 to 4 days later. They all seem smaller (especially the the 2 that popped later) than they should be at 18-22 days old.
- Thread starter
- #5
I’ve been trying to follow Emilya’s (How to water a potted plant in their final container) so I think I’m on point with watering. I’m watering the bottom 2 small ones the exact same way as I’ve been watering the 2 bigger ones. The 2 bigger ones are a few days older than the smaller ones but I’m getting kind of worried by their lack of growth. It seems like they should be bigger. One of the small ones just popped out of the ground very late for some reason. The other one, the first seed didn’t germinate and appeared to be a dud so I had to start another one.
These are all different strains. 3 of them are from 00 Seed Bank and one is from Humboldt Seed Company. The Humboldt Sole Mate Auto is one of the small plants and the other small plant who’s first seed was a dud is a 00 Seed Bank California Kush Auto.
- Thread starter
- #6
I can see the 5 nodes on the 2 bigger plants but can only make out 4 nodes on the small plants. I would say the smaller plants are about a week behind the bigger plants in age but the bigger plants were bigger last week than the smaller plants are now,.
Rasterman
Well-Known Member
How's your temperature range? I keep the tent at 84°F and that helps a lot for me. Also try to keep humidity above 50 if you can during the day. My setup is sort of Mickey Mouse - I use a temperature sensor to keep the humidity up but it helps.
Also how warm are they during lights out?
I've seen this more often than I'd like and it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to stunt or anything.
Also how warm are they during lights out?
I've seen this more often than I'd like and it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to stunt or anything.
NAGreengo
Well-Known Member
The only procedure I follow is watering until runoff, and watering again when dry while keeping the RH around 50%, and air temp around 76°-79°F throughout the grow. With a slight reduction to 45% RH near the second week of flower...The idea is to train my plants to consistently uptake water daily, and transpire on a timely schedule.
- Thread starter
- #9
I normally water like you describe but you can’t really do that with seedlings in 5 gallon pots until they are big enough, correct? Right now I think my plants are too small in too big of pots to water until run off and then wait till the pots are dry to water again.The only procedure I follow is watering until runoff, and watering again when dry while keeping the RH around 50%, and air temp around 76°-79°F throughout the grow. With a slight reduction to 45% RH near the second week of flower...The idea is to train my plants to consistently uptake water daily, and transpire on a timely schedule.
So let me re-clarify my answer on my watering. I am following Emilya’s watering tutorial for starting a seed in it’s final pot but I’m actually really not sure if I’m doing it correctly or on point with it or if it’s the correct way to water.
I’ve been growing since 2018. I started with clones only, only growing outside in 5 gallon fabric pots. I always watered my clones the way you are saying. Water to run off and then wait for the soil to almost completely dry before watering again. I never had a poor crop with clones from solo cup to harvest. I started trying seeds 2 years ago and was not as successful. I kept losing seedlings to damp off or under watering or seeds not popping. I did a little better last year but I was still having issues. I tried autos for the first time last year and 2 of the 3 I planted stunted horribly and the 3rd turned out to be a photo period. This year I decided on only growing 4 plants (all autos) outside. I planted the germinated seeds in their final 5 gal Smart Pots and except for one seed that didn’t germinated all seeds took off. But watering them in their final pots has been tricky and I worry that I could be stunting them again with either too much or too little water.
- Thread starter
- #10
I am growing outside in the Denver Colorado area. We have had a very cool, rainy June so they have mostly been in high 60’s and 70’s range. I’ve tried to keep them outside as much as possible but with mostly clouds and heavy rain, they have needed to be kept inside in a sunny window shelf a lot. They are tasting their first above 85 degree, sunny days these last couple of days. They seem to be hardened off enough because on our first 92 degree day a couple of days ago, they were praying to the sun and showed no sun damage after.
Rasterman
Well-Known Member
I'm about 7 hours south of you and my experience has been similar. The first mowing this summer has been brutal!
- Thread starter
- #12
I’ve been able to keep up with mowing in between the rain but I’ve experienced other years when that hasn’t been the case and I know what you mean.
NAGreengo
Well-Known Member
Not in my experience.
I fully water the pot until runoff, plant the seed a nail length under, cover and then lightly mist over the covered hole. Then , I lightly mist, and saturate the topsoil when it is dry, until I see a sprout. After I see a sprout, and it has established in 2-5 days, I begin watering until slight runoff when the pot is dry.(checking the pot weight is a must to know if it is truly dry) Carefully watering away from the sprout , near the edge of the pot until slight runoff, then I repeat again when dry the entire life cycle. In between fully watering in the seedling stage, I will sometimes very lightly mist the seedling.
Hope this helps Amigro!
- Thread starter
- #14
So the way I have handled my watering so far. I started with peat based dry soil in my 5 gal Smart Pots. I germinated the seeds in paper towels and planted them about a half inch into the dry soil and gave them 10 to 15 good sprays of water and continued with 5 to 10 sprays twice a day until they popped the surface. Then I continued to spray twice a day around the seedlings until they got their second set of leaves. Then I started giving them about 1 to 2 cups of water around the plants when the soil became dry in the first 3 inches of the soil. This happened about every 2 to 3 days. There was some slight run off from this but was quickly sucked back up into the bottom of the fabric pots. The pots do have weight to them from water at the very bottom but the top 3 to 4 inches become bone dry after about 2 days. So this is where I’m kind of stuck. I think they are too small to start the wet/dry cycle but I can’t tell if should keep giving them 1 or 2 cups of water when the top 3 inches of soil becomes dry or should I wait till the plants use the water at the bottom of the pot now before watering again? My soil very well draining because it has a lot of perlite so it is very loose and airy. The 2 bigger plants may be ready for a full watering to saturation since they are about 7 inches from leaf tip to leaf tip and the watering guide says that when plants reach 1/3rd the width of the pot, they are ready for their first full watering.Not in my experience.
I fully water the pot until runoff, plant the seed a nail length under, cover and then lightly mist over the covered hole. Then , I lightly mist, and saturate the topsoil when it is dry, until I see a sprout. After I see a sprout, and it has established in 2-5 days, I begin watering until slight runoff when the pot is dry.(checking the pot weight is a must to know if it is truly dry) Carefully watering away from the sprout , near the edge of the pot until slight runoff, then I repeat again when dry the entire life cycle. In between fully watering in the seedling stage, I will sometimes very lightly mist the seedling.
Hope this helps Amigro!
NAGreengo
Well-Known Member
If your soil is loose and airy , you most definitely should water until runoff my friend IMO. Looking at your plants I see no reason why you should not.
- Thread starter
- #16
Even the small plants?
NAGreengo
Well-Known Member
Yes
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
Hey @jokerlola,
I'll reiterate my usual spiel... use 1 gal pots first and let them get strong and well established... 1 ft. to 16 in. tall. It will be much easier to manager watering that way. Then carefully transfer to final pot. Give 'em a treat of myco in the hole. Fyi, there's no worry to transplant autos... just be very careful with the roots. Water after the transfer.
happy growing!
I'll reiterate my usual spiel... use 1 gal pots first and let them get strong and well established... 1 ft. to 16 in. tall. It will be much easier to manager watering that way. Then carefully transfer to final pot. Give 'em a treat of myco in the hole. Fyi, there's no worry to transplant autos... just be very careful with the roots. Water after the transfer.
happy growing!
- Thread starter
- #19
Hey @cbdhemp808Hey @jokerlola,
I'll reiterate my usual spiel... use 1 gal pots first and let them get strong and well established... 1 ft. to 16 in. tall. It will be much easier to manager watering that way. Then carefully transfer to final pot. Give 'em a treat of myco in the hole. Fyi, there's no worry to transplant autos... just be very careful with the roots. Water after the transfer.
happy growing!
The reason I started my auto seeds in their final 5 gal pots with this grow is because 2 of the 3 autos I tried growing last year stunted on me terribly. The 3rd one wound up growing as a photo period. I started them in solo cups and then transplanted them to the 5 gallon final pots. I figured they stunted because I transplanted too late. I also keep reading that autos should never be transplanted and should be started in their final pots. I don’t know which is the right way. I guess I will see if they do better this way. On my next auto grow, I will probably try transplanting again but starting them in 1 gallon pots like you recommend instead of Solo cups.
Btw, is it common for an auto seed to occasionally grow as a photo?
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
I think we have firmly established on the forum here... that is a myth. You just need to be very careful not to stress the plant during transplanting. Meaning, don't damage the roots. Make sure it has water and is happy. No problem.
I'm having great success going from tiny 2" square sprouting pots, to 1 gal, to final pot size. I let them get very well established in the 1 gal. (I am growing only photos.)
I'd say it's fairly common. I've seen the opposite – photo seed turning out to be partly autos. BUT... I don't buy from that company anymore. I gravitate more now toward high-quality breeders, and then getting their seed from whomever is selling their seed.
