Lowryder #2 - Balcony grow - Natural Light cicle - Plz Help

[bssbrazil]

Hey guys,
I´m First time grower, and I´m trying to get my first buds from de lowryder #2 autoflower feminized I bought in a famous bank seed. The seeds came trough nicely and so far, the only one i try to germinate is now in veg stage on my balcony. Like I said on the title, it´s one plant in natural light cicle (sun only). Even though it´s winter here, it gets about 11 hours of sun everyday, and temperatures of 77-86 farenhaeit (25-30 Celsius).
I´m a little worried about the size of the plant, it seems to me that is growing too slow, putting out a few leaves so far. It´s abot 3.5 inches tall with a few leaves only.
It´s now been 1 month since seedling and here are the pics. Wish for more experienced growers to give out their opinions and maybe help me out with some tips on how to make it grow faster in natural light cicle.

Thanks

 

[Antics]

Welcome to

How old is the plant?

Make sure not to overwater. Too much water will cause slower growth. Cannabis seems to like being fully watered until the point of slight runoff, then the soil is allowed to become almost dry before the next watering.

 

[tilde]

What's the soil mix you're using?

 

[bssbrazil]

What's the soil mix you're using?

Thanks for the reply.
I can't really define my soil mix. I work at a farm and I got a little bit of a lot a stuff to make the soil.
It's basically sand, organic turf and a little clay. Just so you know, the organic turf is really awsome for plants in general, I've used on vegetables and it works great.
I'm almost giving up on natural light cycle. It's just too slow!

 

[Growlow]

Good luck with it all!

 

[Antics]

Thanks for the reply.
I can't really define my soil mix. I work at a farm and I got a little bit of a lot a stuff to make the soil.
It's basically sand, organic turf and a little clay. Just so you know, the organic turf is really awsome for plants in general, I've used on vegetables and it works great.
I'm almost giving up on natural light cycle. It's just too slow!

What about my previous points above? The age of the plant comes into play, and what is your watering schedule?

Something else to keep in mind, is even though it's an autoflower, it's only seeing 11 hours of sun daily. Most indoor growers will give their autos 18 hours of daylight, and some give 24 hours.

Planting outdoors is best done according to the Solstice, depending where you are in the world. You'll be able to take advantage of the longest daylight hours then.

 

[chazmania]

Hi Antics:

I suspect the 12 hour light cycle is limiting growth particularly since it's winter there. Also, what little clay you have in the soil may be inhibiting growth by limiting root development. Even something seemingly benign like the ubiquitous store bought "garden soil" can have a negative impact on growth (too compact). You may want consider repotting to a better soil while your girl is still young. Have you considered 12 hours of natural sun supplemented by 6 hours of indoor artificial light (fluorescent/LED, etc)? A plant caddy works wonders in this regard. It's a lot of work but then this is a Labor of Love for us.

As for watering I have no "schedule" per se other than keeping a good eye on my girls and developing a keen understanding of what they require at any given time.

Good Luck!

Chazmania

 

[ionize]

Thanks for the reply.
I can't really define my soil mix. I work at a farm and I got a little bit of a lot a stuff to make the soil.
It's basically sand, organic turf and a little clay. Just so you know, the organic turf is really awsome for plants in general, I've used on vegetables and it works great.
I'm almost giving up on natural light cycle. It's just too slow!

neither sand nor clay are good additives to a soil mix for canna. sand add nothing in terms of nutrient profiles and compacts over time, clay reduces drainage. better next to to use good compost mixed with peat or coco and amend from there. just my 2c..

 

[bssbrazil]

Hi Antics:

I suspect the 12 hour light cycle is limiting growth particularly since it's winter there. Also, what little clay you have in the soil may be inhibiting growth by limiting root development. Even something seemingly benign like the ubiquitous store bought "garden soil" can have a negative impact on growth (too compact). You may want consider repotting to a better soil while your girl is still young. Have you considered 12 hours of natural sun supplemented by 6 hours of indoor artificial light (fluorescent/LED, etc)? A plant caddy works wonders in this regard. It's a lot of work but then this is a Labor of Love for us.

As for watering I have no "schedule" per se other than keeping a good eye on my girls and developing a keen understanding of what they require at any given time.

Good Luck!

Chazmania

Thanks for The info.
I definitely think that little sunlight is limiting growth!
Is it ok to mix natural light and artificial (cfl)?
I just bought a 150w cfl lamp and was thinking of a mixed light cycle. With 11 hrs of natural and 7 artificial daily. But then a friend told me that the plants would suffer and may not absorb different kinds of light, could that be true!?
All the info has been very helpful, thanks y"all!

 

[Antics]

I've heard of a few growers who use natural sunlight, and then bring their plants inside and put them under CFLs with no problems.

When using CFL or fluorescent lighting, plants seem to perform the best using 6500K for Veg, and 2700K for flower. I personally seem to have good results when using several 23w and 45w bulbs. When I'm in Veg, most of my bulbs are 6500K and only a couple are 2700K. When I switch to flower, most of my bulbs are 2700K, and I only have a couple 6500K. I'm currently using 12 bulbs for 2 plants, with a total of 342w, so if your CFL bulb is 150 true CFL watts (and not incandescent equivalent watts) your plants should do fine under that bulb.

The problem you might run into with the CFL is light penetration into the canopy. It definitely won't penetrate as deep as sunlight, and if you train your plants branches to all grow at the same height, you'll have much better results when using a CFL.

 

[chazmania]

great advice

 

[bssbrazil]

I've heard of a few growers who use natural sunlight, and then bring their plants inside and put them under CFLs with no problems.

When using CFL or fluorescent lighting, plants seem to perform the best using 6500K for Veg, and 2700K for flower. I personally seem to have good results when using several 23w and 45w bulbs. When I'm in Veg, most of my bulbs are 6500K and only a couple are 2700K. When I switch to flower, most of my bulbs are 2700K, and I only have a couple 6500K. I'm currently using 12 bulbs for 2 plants, with a total of 342w, so if your CFL bulb is 150 true CFL watts (and not incandescent equivalent watts) your plants should do fine under that bulb.

The problem you might run into with the CFL is light penetration into the canopy. It definitely won't penetrate as deep as sunlight, and if you train your plants branches to all grow at the same height, you'll have much better results when using a CFL.

Just cant thank enough for all the info!
Thanks so much. Still waiting for my bulb to arrive, but will get to it ASAP and share the pics as I go!
Thanks. Again.

 

[Antics]

That's why we're here, to help. I was brand new to growing about 5 months ago, and after going through your first grow, you're going to learn a lot.

Make sure you start a grow journal to keep track of your progress!

 

[bssbrazil]

Sup guys,
Logged in to show some progress.
After reading a lot I decided that natural light was not gonna be enough, so I decided to buy a CFL lamp 150W and that thing shines like the sun itself! LOL
I also made myself a little growbox on the balcony (actually pretty neat), where I have now my 2 month old ShortRider with 3 others 2 week old ShortRiders.
Right of the bat, CFL works miracles comparing with natural light, its a BIG BIG diference. My bigger plant is growing bigger by the day.
Which brings me to my first question..

Q1 - The bigger plant (pictures below) is about 2 months old, 4 1/2 inches (very small still), and it has already shown some flowering. I know the light cycle for flowering is diferent than for veg stage (12/12 for flowering and 18/6 for veg), so can I keep the bigger plant inside the growbox with the 2 weeks old plants? I mean, once it shows some flowers, do I NEED to switch lights to 12/12? Or is it ok to keep the together? I was hoping I could keep them together and have the bigger plant on veg stage longer than the others, and get them to flower together, can I?

Q2 - I read some info saying that once you swtich light cycle to flowering (12/12), it actually gets 2 or 3 times bigger, on height especially. If that is true then it´s big trouble for limited space growers cause it wont fit the growbox. I found that a little weird, so I was hoping you guys could shine a light on that for me.

As for the rest, i guess i´m doing pretty OK for a first timer, so much to learn, but easy stuff...

Thanks in advance to y´all!

 

[Antics]

Autoflowers do not need to have the light schedule switched to 12/12.

You can keep any plants you want together, just place them at the same height. And it's not advised to put autoflowers into a 12/12 with photo period plants that are flowering.

You won't see much stretch on an auto. If it might get too tall, try LST (low stress training) to grow the plants into the shape you want.

Dont forget to check this page out: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

It has aa shitload of great information for growing Cannabis, it covers topics for beginners, all the way to topics for advanced growers. I'd suggest you read both, because you won't be a beginner for long!

 

[bssbrazil]

Autoflowers do not need to have the light schedule switched to 12/12.

You can keep any plants you want together, just place them at the same height. And it's not advised to put autoflowers into a 12/12 with photo period plants that are flowering.

You won't see much stretch on an auto. If it might get too tall, try LST (low stress training) to grow the plants into the shape you want.

Dont forget to check this page out: How to Grow Marijuana Everything You Need to Know

It has aa shitload of great information for growing Cannabis, it covers topics for beginners, all the way to topics for advanced growers. I'd suggest you read both, because you won't be a beginner for long!

Ok, thanks!
So I can keep them together and there's no need for a light cycle switch since they are all auto flower!
The big one, will it keep getting bigger and keep flowering at the same time?
I was hoping on a light cycle change to save some money on the energy bill, even though its not needed, can I still do it? How will it affect my grow? My plant is still small in size so my harvest is gonna be little, right? Any tricks to get the most out of it now?

Great link by the way!

Thanks!!!

 

[Antics]

Correct! With autos you can leave your lights set on 18/6, and continue putting plants in no matter what age. The only thing you have to do when adding plants of different ages/heights is set the pots of the young plants on a platform or box to raise them up to the same height as the older plants, that way they get enough light.

When the auto starts flowering theres some period of stretch, my Autos in my last grow got up to 71.5cm/28" the last time I measured, which was 8 days before harvest. That height is with no training.

 

[bssbrazil]

Hey,
So my baby is doing good!
I"m not sure when it will be ready for harvest.
Some pistills are a little brownish, but most are still white, so that is a sign that its not ready!
I can't really see the buds formed yet, will it always become a dense bud?
A friend said I can use some branches to get new plants instead of growing from seed, does that work!?

 

[Antics]

Cloning works better in Veg, not when you're flowering like now.

Dense or airy buds will depend on strain and growing environment.

To properly and accurately harvest, you'll need a microscope, or magnifying glass, 60x to look at trichomes. Pistil color doesn't mean much, and the change from white to brown/red/orange varies with each strain.

 

[bssbrazil]

Hey Antics,
So, i´m making progress.... I´m probably 2 or 3 weeks before my first harvest. I´ll send you pics to be sure before I harvest though, is that ok? My first plant only grew to be about 5 inches (or less) but I guess that is because I only had it on natural light, before I got 200 watt CFLs.
I have two new plants on third week and I think they are growin very slow, better than the other, but still slow.Could that be because of a poor soil? I´m feeding them on 4-14-8 weekly and just today I tilted then a little to start a LST. (by the way, I saw one of yours LST plants, OMG!!!!! Bushy and healthy...Plz teach me! LOL).

Another thing, can I benefit from LST on flowering? Will that get my buds bigger? Cause I´m getting a short and thin plant, probably will get very little yield (about 2 cigars I suppose).

One more, when feeding with molasses, should I feed the soil or the leaves and buds (on flowering)?

Thanks man!!