Planning my 1st auto flower grow

[Meriwether]

Day 14

It's difficult getting the lighting right to show true colors, but what I've ended up with here, after processing, shows an almost neon-yellow glow dusting where the debris I'm interested in is. I know tradition is to name female plants after females, but for my own reasons, these two ladies are taking these names from here forward:

Lewis:

And Clark:

Lewis side view:

Clark side view:

As it happens, Lewis was the sprout that kept its shell on after it poked through the soil on Day 1. Clark has always been closest to the oscillating fan. Lewis has been the healthier-looking seedling since the beginning, I can't help wondering if having the shell-cap inspired a growth spurt immediately after germination. . . it had a harder start, so maybe it's showing more spirit in the days after as a consequence of early experience? We'll see. On the other hand, Clark has a more resilient-feeling, and more purple, stem. I've been gently exercising them with stem bending, a gentle back-and-forth kind of action from time to time, and Clark's stem is noticeably more resilient.

In other news, the Fam and I spent some time hanging Christmas lights outside the house tonight. I'm sorely tempted to spend more than I should on an XL Frosty lawn decoration, not sure about it yet, but as the other neighbors bring out their decorations out I find myself inspired to up my game. . .

'Tis the Season!!

 

[b.real]

I don't see anything wrong. how old are they?

 

[Meriwether]

Today is 14 days since I put the seeds into soil. They went into the dirt after 12 hours of soaking in H20, before they cracked or showed any kind of taproot. My question is, will it hurt them to gently wipe the "dust" or pollen or whatever it is, off the leaves? Or should I just leave them alone?

*edit*

I'm obviously way overthinking this. I'll leave them alone. They just look dirty and it bugs me.

 

[b.real]

is it on all the leaves? you're not going to hurt them if you wipe them softly. you should check if it comes off or not. can you take pictures with the leds off?

 

[Meriwether]

I'll just leave it alone. You can see the yellowish dust in all the pics above, it shows up as specks against the purple light if you look closely.

 

[b.real]

you should check if it's dust or if the leaves are losing color.

 

[Meriwether]

Seems to be dust. I very gently wiped the leaves with my fingertip and it seemed to spread around a bit, so I'm reasonably sure it's something on the leaves, not miscoloration of the leaves themselves.

 

[b.real]

that's good to hear.

 

[Meriwether]

Day 16

I'm struggling a little keeping temps where I want them, it's been about 83F in the closet during this light cycle, warmer than I'm shooting for. The seedlings are definitely growing, but they don't seem to be getting much taller. New leaves are coming out pretty close to the previous ones. I'm hoping it's a good thing.


Here's Lewis on Day 16:

And Clark:

There's interesting things happening between the main stem and branch junctions:

No water since last week, no nutes ever besides what's in the FFOF soil, 18/6 light routine.



*Edit* Couldn't resist adding a couple more pics. The LEDs sure make odd lighting and shadow effects.

 

[Rifleman]

Re: 28 inches

Subbed up for this grow. You are a couple days ahead of me. I'm growing some Bubble Kush Autos using a 600w hps. Here's to both of us smoking our own by Valentines Day. Good luck.

 

[Meriwether]

Kiss

Minor things, overthinking again more than anything else. I've been messing around with fans. Vornado fan, Vornado heater-fan, and most recently a clip-on oscillating jobbie. The more I've tried to get it just right, an ideal (for me) 77.7F, the more it ends up elsewhere entirely. Today at 5 when it was time to turn the lights on again, I decided to try not using any fans at all. Fired up the light in "grow" mode, shut the door, and left it for a couple hours. Next time I checked I took the following pic, because by simply turning all of the new fans I bought OFF, the temperature magically hit the exact range I'm shooting for. Sometimes less is more: this has been the maxim of my success in the professional world for half my life and it astonishes me that I'm learning it again in my bathroom closet.

 

[b.real]

dude 85f is great for plants lol. you might want raise the light a bit to like 14-16" you have reflector series like Colorado High .

 

[Meriwether]

Day 18

I gave each plant 1.5 cups of R/O water, first time in about a week. It seems like the rate of growth may have slowed a bit, but it's probably my own impatience more than anything else. Both plants seems healthy and happy as far as I can tell.

Lewis:

and Clark:

It seems like Clark is catching up with Lewis, and actually is starting to look larger. Interesting stuff.

 

[wildwelshman]

There looking good mate..

 

[Meriwether]

How are yours doing? Since we started the same day, I'm curious how they compare now.

 

[wildwelshman]

How are yours doing? Since we started the same day, I'm curious how they compare now.

My little lady is doing good mate. your more than welcome to check out my journal I posted some pics today..

 

[Meriwether]

The rate of growth has slowed down. Over the past 2 light cycles, there's been barely any new fan leaf development, although there's lots of new stuff happening between the main stem and the branches. I moved my light about 4 inches higher than it was, and we'll see what happens.

 

[Meriwether]

Day 19

It looks like the 4th set of leaves is emerging from both plants, and I find myself intrigued by the "inter-nodal" (don't know what else to call it) growth happening between the branches. The pic below is the Clark plant, and the inter-nodes have doubled in size since yesterday:

The Lewis plant, on the other hand, seems to be falling behind. It was the more promising seedling out of the gates, quickly growing taller than Clark, but in the past few days the roles have reversed, and now Clark is noticeably more healthy. Its leaves are all pointing more upwards without any sign of droop, and Clark's stem is a lot thicker (and darker purple) than Lewis'. The pic below is of Lewis, showing what looks to me to be some drooping of the fan leaves:

Is this anything to worry about? And when do people start thinking about "topping" their plants? Is it wise to do with with auto flowers?

Here's Clark from above:

and Lewis, the one I suspect of drooping:

The pots are sitting on Lazy Susan drip trays, and I've been rotating both plants 90 degrees at the start of each light cycle.

 

[wildwelshman]

Hi mate they look great to me. I have never topped a auto, I think it would stun the lady to much and stun her growth. Just my 2 pence worth. Happy growing

 

[b.real]

they look really good. I think they're gonna do well. you moved the light to like 16"? my phone lux meter says the lumens of the 100x3w model starts to fall off at about 10" so I'm gonna try 12" away on mine. when they're growing more vigorous light should be a bit closer.

you can't diagnose anything under led light without also inspecting with more familiar lighting.