Spring's 4 Separate Auto Strains - Soil - T8s - CFL - Closet Grow

[Fluffy Haze]

looking good mate, if your looking for nutes then the best by far is blue planet nutrients, the bloke who makes the product is a top bloke and answers any questions, his products work well as well, i use the 3 part plus bloom booster, so thats 4 bottles of liquid, their is a grow/micro/bloom and bloom booster, you follow a feeding guide and mix certain amounts of each one, so you might use 2.5ml per gallon of each, then corey at bpn has perfected his product and given a feeding guide, so you start of with low amounts of each and the amounts slowly go up and when you go to flower it changes the mix to a flower mix, this gives the plants all they need, plus bpn is really cheap compared to other brands and a lot of growers use it on here so its worth checking out.

i had a problem with fast draining compost a while back, i was watering my plants and i was getting plenty of run off, but then my plants started suffering and i couldnt work out why, it was only when i dug down into the soil that i noticed it was bone dry even after watering, i soon found that it was draining to quick and the soil was not getting enough time to soak the water up and this left my plants dry, to solve that problem i put my plant pots in small dishes then when i watered it came out the bottom and filled the dish up, then i left the pots in the dish for about an hour to soak it all up, then if their is any water left in the dish then i tip it away as the soil has soaked up what it needs, but i found that my plants where dry and soaked up all the water in the dishes for the first few waters so clearly my plant where under watered, so when the plants are bigger just make sure your soil is not doing the same, mine was going in the top then just running strait out the bottom of the pot, so i was thinking it was getting plenty of water when in fact it was getting hardly any,

Also as noob, thank you very much for this advice, it will come in really useful!

 

[donpaul.p]

no worries, im also a uk grower, we are few and far between on here but we are about, im coming over to your journal to have a look what you got going on

 

[Fluffy Haze]

Hope you don't mind me adding this Spring, DonPaul kindly posted it on my journal and it follows his previous comment on this thread and thought it might be useful.

over watering is a huge problem, i found this out the hard way when i started growing again, theirs a few things you can do, you could fill another pot with the same stuff you have in the pots your plants are in, then compare the pots with the plants in to the pots with nothing in, and if the pot with the plant in is as light as the dry pot then it needs watering, if its heavy then it dont need watering,
the other option you have is to carfeully poke your fingers down in the pot about 3 inches and if you pull your fingers out and their moist then it dont need watering, but if you pull them out and they are dry then they need watering.

i found my plants needed watering every 5 or 6 days when they was less than 8 or 9 inches high, once they hit about 1ft they needed watering every 3 days, but i also had another problem, i got lazy and stopped watering till i had run off, so i just kept topping the pots up with small amounts of water, what this did is keep the top layer wet and i had mold start growing on top of the soil, so i scraped the layer of soil off and got back into the routine of watering more in one go and let them dry out more between watering, so now i make sure i feed and water the plants enough to keep them going a few days, now if you pour the water fast onto the pots it wont soak in it will run out the bottom, so place the pots in a dish and water them until the pot has an inch or so of water in it, then leave the pots in the dish for an hour to soak up as much water/feed as it wants, then after an hour take it out the dish and throw away the run off water left in the dish, this will then make sure the plant is watered enough to keep it going till the next water time.

now the roots need oxygen so over watering will kill the roots and cause rot problems below soil level, so the soil needs to dry out between watering to allow the roots to get the oxygen they need, without doing this the growth will be stunted and the roots will suffer, then it will take a while to recover before normal growth starts again, so their is a fine line between over and under watering, get it wrong and the plants will suffer, but get it right and the plants will respond well and grow like crazy.

they grow slow for the first 2 or 3 weeks, but once they have good root mass they grow like crazy, so keep an eye on how moist the medium is, poke your fingers down about 3 inches and check the moisture, but if the temps are in the right range then you should be watering the plants between 3 and 5 days, depending on how well the medium holds the moisture,

now when i water and feed i take my plants out the grow room and place them in the sink, then i water slowly till i have enough run off then i place the pots in a dish, this makes sure they are watered enough between each water, then i only water again when the soil is dry a couple of inches down or the plant tells me by having droopy leaves that its ready for a rink, dont worry if the leaves wilt as they will pick up within an hour of watering, but both over and under watering will make the leaves wilt, so make sure the leaves are wilting due to lack of water and not to much water else you will make matters a lot worse.

but i think you will find a schedule that suits your plants, i mix up nutes every 3 or 4 days and give each plant a good feed,

 

[Smokemupm8]

Dont stress matey.. You will see some action soon. If its over a week and nothing, id maybe start to stress. But an inch is about perfect, i do about 1cm but it will take longer to get thru an inch, so dont just give it a few days
Goodluck.. Smokem..

 

[spring2012]

Hey mate
Soz took me while to get back to ya.. Well ive had a quick peep thru your journal, and its looking good mate
Thats no worse than my space atm!! I dont know exactly what ur query is about the soil.. When it comes to flower, you can basically cut out Nitrogen, and keep other nutes up, i use poatash sulphate and such to mix up what nutes i think it will need..
I mix my soil with Humus, potting mix,some sand,pea straw mulch and some slow release fert. I try to use a bit of Humus as its 100% organic and has great nute retention and water also. Takee it easy mate, if ive gotten this wrong im soz bro! Catch ya , smokem

No problem!! I just wanted your input as well with regard to new soil saturation. I was afraid that I should have not run so much water through my 3 gallon pots before I set the seeds. Cindy looks great BTW. The pics you posted show her size well.

 

[Fluffy Haze]

No problem!! I just wanted your input as well with regard to new soil saturation. I was afraid that I should have not run so much water through my 3 gallon pots before I set the seeds. Cindy looks great BTW. The pics you posted show her size well.

Ahem...embarrassed question from the back of the class

What do you mean run so much water through your pots? I think I am missing a big general plant growing thing here

 

[spring2012]

Ahem...embarrassed question from the back of the class

What do you mean run so much water through your pots? I think I am missing a big general plant growing thing here

LOL! I type faster than I think! Basically I was talking about when I placed the new soil into my 3 gallon pots. I was not sure if I was to saturate the new soil with water ( run water through ) before I placed my Germed seeds in. DonPaul and Krolin ( spelling ) spoke up and said I was fine. I was afraid that I had screwed up before I began! I worried a bit though. The pots seem to be drying OK around the first 2" and I lightly sprayed the seedling area once yesterday. My worry is that the rest of the pots are still wet after 2 and a half days. I have excellent drainage. Maybe the lights will help when I turn them on. The RH is a little high without them on ( 65% ). With lights on the RH is around 40%. Thanks for asking though!

 

[spring2012]

Update! I started the germ last night at 9 pm. On Que all the seeds are showing the tap root 24 hours later. I will be placing them in soil shortly ( Fox Farm Ocean 70/30 mix with pearlite ) this is for 2. The other two are a mix suggested by Smokemup. I will have the ingredients list in a few. I am going straight into 3 gallon pots.

I hate to quote myself but I neglected to tell the Germ method. I went with idiot proof 101. Jimmy actually posted a good reply to the post idiot proof germination. I set up 4 ceramic coffee cups with just above room temp tap water. Placed seeds in individual cups and covered with plastic tops. The Auto#1 and Trans Siberian sank immediately. The HighJack and Pineapple punch sank a few hours later. 24 hours later they all split and showed their tap root.

 

[Fluffy Haze]

LOL! I type faster than I think! Basically I was talking about when I placed the new soil into my 3 gallon pots. I was not sure if I was to saturate the new soil with water ( run water through ) before I placed my Germed seeds in. DonPaul and Krolin ( spelling ) spoke up and said I was fine. I was afraid that I had screwed up before I began! I worried a bit though. The pots seem to be drying OK around the first 2" and I lightly sprayed the seedling area once yesterday. My worry is that the rest of the pots are still wet after 2 and a half days. I have excellent drainage. Maybe the lights will help when I turn them on. The RH is a little high without them on ( 65% ). With lights on the RH is around 40%. Thanks for asking though!

I appreciate this! I didn't do that when putting my Root Riot cube into my smallest pot so panicked thinking I'd made some awful cock up I think I have slightly over watered so am just leaving Ruby alone until she starts to complain then I can easily get her back to balance.

This small they won't have so much of a root system, so I'm thinking with my own plant that may be why it is taking that little bit more time to dry out too. You seem like a worrier like I am... I am so pleased I've been reading so many journals and have had the privilege of watching some amazing plants from very young, it makes you realise that actually we don't need to worry so much about these plants, they are tough little buggers.

It doesn't help you are at the stage where nothing happens for what seems like forever. Next time you will know that, but I feel your pain, I was there only a couple of weeks ago myself!

 

[donpaul.p]

the plants will more or less stop growing if the soil is to wet, then the leaves will curl down at the edges, the problem is the leaves do this if they need water as well, so it takes some getting used to, but you will find out over the next week or 2 how often you need to water then you can stick to a routine like watering every 3 or 4 days depending on how quick the soil dries out,
but i over watered when i started growing and it badly stunted growth, the roots need oxygen as well so the constant wet soil prevents the roots getting the oxygen and the plants then suffer, it can cause root rot, so make sure the pot is pretty dry between each water, then when you do water make sure you water enough to soak the soil, but at this early stage just give the soil a spray where the plant is so your not soaking the whole pot, they will take longer to dry out due to the plant been so young so you may not need to water to much over the next few days, so a gentle spray around the base of the plant would be all is needed.

but over watering will stunt growth and this will slow things down loads, but the thing is it takes longer for the plants to recover from an over watered pot than it does from an under watered pot, you would clearly know if it was under watered as the pot would be dry and the plant would start curling the leaves downwards, but then when you water the plant can be back to healthy condition within an hour, but if you over water it could take days for the soil to dry out and during this time the plant will do very little growing

 

[spring2012]

Update: All four have sprouted above the soil! Through My research II have come to the conclusion that lights should go on at this point. I have 10 x 100watt x 6500k CFL's within 2" of each seedling ( too much? Too close? ) Above the CFL's I have 6 x 48" x 6700k T8's. Basically I was going to allow the CFL's to cover them for a week or so then lower the T8's within range. I have reservations about turning on the lights so soon. The seedlings seem very fragile. Any opinions?
Pineapple Punch Auto

Trans Siberian Auto. Sorry this is upside down!

HighJack Automatic

Auto#1

 

[PhilPebbles]

I used an old Areo grow light used for like Basil and Parsley or whatever..But anyway Ive only used CFL this is my 1st grow and pics of what it looked like. Migh give ya an idea of what you wanna do..This 1st one is right after i cloned

 

[spring2012]

BBQ,
I am impressed. I love your set up especially the DIY fixtures. I will check your link out now as well. I was just nervous that My lights are too much this early on but the research says its cool!

 

[Fluffy Haze]

Update: All four have sprouted above the soil! Through My research II have come to the conclusion that lights should go on at this point. I have 10 x 100watt x 6500k CFL's within 2" of each seedling ( too much? Too close? ) Above the CFL's I have 6 x 48" x 6700k T8's. Basically I was going to allow the CFL's to cover them for a week or so then lower the T8's within range. I have reservations about turning on the lights so soon. The seedlings seem very fragile. Any opinions?

I'm sorry I'm not really much use Spring. I really struggle with all the numbers so I'm kind of winging it on this myself, but it took Fuzzy Duck's kind help in the first place to give me the strength of light I needed.

I was concerned about this too with a Metal Halide 250W being my only real source of light, I hadn't anticipated needing something smaller for seedlings. I obviously missed that in the masses of information to take in about growing


However, Ruby is doing OK... I just made sure they stayed moist but not too wet (I did OK with the babies, overwatered her when she got a bit bigger). I think I've just been lucky to find the right height for my plants in my setup quite easily.

I'm hoping someone who gets the whole numbers thing can help you better than me Spring.

 

[spring2012]

Its all good! They seem to be ok I am just a bit overprotective of the babies. Im on 20/4 light schedule so I will mist them down at 3 my time. Too afraid to mist them down with lights on! 3 are standing tall 4th one has a 90 degree bend just below the top.

 

[PhilPebbles]

Thx Spring

BBQ,
I am impressed. I love your set up especially the DIY fixtures. I will check your link out now as well. I was just nervous that My lights are too much this early on but the research says its cool!

 

[Korloin]

Update: All four have sprouted above the soil! Through My research II have come to the conclusion that lights should go on at this point. I have 10 x 100watt x 6500k CFL's within 2" of each seedling ( too much? Too close? ) Above the CFL's I have 6 x 48" x 6700k T8's. Basically I was going to allow the CFL's to cover them for a week or so then lower the T8's within range. I have reservations about turning on the lights so soon. The seedlings seem very fragile. Any opinions?
Pineapple Punch Auto

Trans Siberian Auto. Sorry this is upside down!

HighJack Automatic

Auto#1

Give 'em the light!! You'll be totally fine with the cfl's. Just make sure they don't sit beneath the ballast. That where it gets really hot. The tips are the coolest, but don't give as much as right under the spirals. Let them get their first true leaves and then drop the tubes, maybe? I've always heard that they really want to start making sugar right away and they do it with light!

For the first week I actually would take mine outside and put them in the sunniest part of the yard until dusk and then back under the cfl's. I was doing 24/0 the first week. Then started GLR the second. Don't think it would make a difference with autos though. Might even put them to flower too soon. Not sure. Hmmmm.

 

[spring2012]

Give 'em the light!! You'll be totally fine with the cfl's. Just make sure they don't sit beneath the ballast. That where it gets really hot. The tips are the coolest, but don't give as much as right under the spirals. Let them get their first true leaves and then drop the tubes, maybe? I've always heard that they really want to start making sugar right away and they do it with light!

For the first week I actually would take mine outside and put them in the sunniest part of the yard until dusk and then back under the cfl's. I was doing 24/0 the first week. Then started GLR the second. Don't think it would make a difference with autos though. Might even put them to flower too soon. Not sure. Hmmmm.

Thanks for the info. I have moved the lights around and all four are straight and true! My temps are running a bit high at 83 and RH at 55%. Sound ok? Wish I could put them outside. Got to Johnny laws living close by!

 

[Korloin]

Thanks for the info. I have moved the lights around and all four are straight and true! My temps are running a bit high at 83 and RH at 55%. Sound ok? Wish I could put them outside. Got to Johnny laws living close by!

Maybe get a fan going in there? Keep an eye on them at least. The soil will dry out pretty quick, but you don't want to water them unless you have to. I'd try to get it to drop @ 10 degrees if possible. Rh is good though. If you can't drop the temp, just lightly mist them every now and again if it's dry on top down an inch. Take em out from under the light when you do, but just a tiny bit. You don't want the roots to damp off from too moisture. Hope this helps! :$

 

[Fluffy Haze]

I'd agree with Korloin here. I've also started doing what DonPaul suggested, water from the bottom but only leave standing for an hour so the water doesn't become stagnant and to prevent the take up of too much water (hence defeating the object).