Noob help please - Autos

[Aspradlin9189]

Hey guys new to site, very intrested in getting my hands dirty! Have a few questions. Ive assisted in grows in past but this is my first all on my own. I started a dinafem critical + 5 days ago, no soakin or paper towel just straifgt into soil. 3 days is didn pop so i started poking around and found it. It was having trouble standing up (growing in a ball right undr soil) moved some soil aroind so it was exposed and in a few hrs she stood up straight. Now that shes poped i need a few pointers!

Heres my set up. on my uninsulated back porch in a 5x3 kinda home made tent. Using a cheap 600 w hps i picked up on amazon. Seed was planted in 2.5 gallon pot (i no, should habe went bigger). I have no cfl or anything to use so rn i got my hps turned down to 250 w and about 18 inches from plant. Have a resturant duty squirrel cage up top for exhaust and a heavy duty job site fan for the intake. PLENTY of air intake if i need it. Over 2 days plant doesnt seem to have changed much. Am i ok using the hps on this seedling? Temps sitting at like 80 at the plant, humidity around 40 to 50. Lights on 24 hrs a day as of now. I was worried about stretching but so far shes good. And watering is confusing me on what i should do, ive ben putting 2- 16 oz bottles of water on it every other day to keep the seedlin moist. Is this to much? Finger check in the soil it feels sorta dry, but not as dry as the soil in the bag. Should i worried about it getting dry? Or to moist. I cant pick up a ph pen till next week so im shooting in the dark there. Bottled water not tap. I have natural springs very close to my house i could collect water from if there would b ne benefit. Ne help is greatly appreciated! Ps ( tryn to figure out how to post pics

 

[TanR]

Hi Aspradlin9189.

Welcome to the 420 Magazine community of members.

Yes, growth in the early days can be somewhat slow. Especially if you, like myself and many others, are so flippen excited to have these plants growing that you check on them multiple times a day! Your plant will do fine under the HPS light although even turned down to 250 watts, I might consider increasing the distance just a little.

The temperature is fine but I wonder why the 24 hour light schedule. I know some folks on here have done some comparisons and I think I remember reading that even auto's benefit from 6-8 hours of dark per day.

As to the watering; 32 ozs. of water every other day, sounds like a lot of water! Do you believe the soil has ever been fully saturated with water? Is there a chance you create a humidity dome? I've seen folks use part of a plastic jug, like a 2 liter clear soda bottle cut in half to create a temporary dome. If that's not an option, then I would begin more of a water to saturation, then dry almost completely out before watering again schedule. I think there is a greater danger of overwatering than underwatering. Spring water might work but I would want to know a lot about it before I started using it. I've used both distilled and tap water and haven't ever noticed a difference between the two.

Be well and happy growing.

 

[Major PITA]

I'd stop the 24/0, but it will work.

Seedlings in large-ish pots can be tricky to water. I soak my medium before germinating and even in a solo cup, that holds the seeds and plants for about two weeks with no additional watering. Most of the growth is happening under the soil while roots are getting established. The roots will be much larger than the plants.

Don't go by the surface, or top couple of inches for deciding on if they need water. The water is down toward the bottom. I let the pots get dry - right up until the plants are going to wilt. They are so light they feel nearly empty. Then and only I drench them completely. Soak/dunk the pots until they will not hold any more. Drain well. Repeat. When starting in larger pots (like yours), I can easily go a month after germination w/o any watering. Small frequent watering is the biggest mistake I see in your post above. Cannabis would MUCH rather be a little dry than a little wet.

and

 

[Aspradlin9189]

I was running 24 hrs while i was waititing for it to sprout its only about a half to an inch tall right now. I was gonna switch to 18/6 at the 2 week mark when i started nutes. Should i go ahead and cut it over now? And can someone inform me how to post pics? Lol. Im gonna hold off on water till atleast monday, let it dry nice and good before i hit it this time. Im in a 2.5 gallon pot. Should i cut tje bottom out of a bucket and stack it in another before the roots bottom out or is 2.5 sufficient

 

[Major PITA]

I'd drop it to 18/6 immediately. I've not seen evidence the 24/0 improves anything and I've read it actually reduces growth slightly. If you watch a plant just before lights out, you'll see they know dark is on its way and they look sleepy. Let them have that rest period while you save $$$ on electricity.

You can grow a good sized plant in a 2.5 gallon pot. I assume your pot has good drainage. I kept a mom for more than a year in a 1 gal. pot. The only downside is, you have to water and feed it daily once it gets large and it is fully root bound. The two plants in the back of the photo below are more than a year old and have had many cuttings taken from them.

 

[Aspradlin9189]

 

[Aspradlin9189]

 

[HeartWW]

You have a lot of great advice above. Every grow you do, You will grow too. Just keep it simple and if in doubt, For $4.00 you can get a hydrometer probe at Home Depot. Stick it in the soil and it will tell you the rest. The worst thing you can do is over water and over nute. Have fun !!

 

[Aspradlin9189]

Shes took off decent now. Raised my light a bit. Update with pics tomorrow. I let her get good and dry and totally soaked her down. My temps are staying high and relatively dry almost 90 degrees humidity around 45 50 so im thinkimh im gonna water a bit more often than usual until i move this weekend and can stabil the temp completely indoors(on a screened in porch type area now

 

[Aspradlin9189]

Gonna b transfering to a grow journel, but does she look stable now? Getting good leaf growth just over night now!

 

[Aspradlin9189]

5 days from being sprouted out of soil. 8 days from germination

 

[Major PITA]

Pictures under HPS and LED always make it difficult to really tell much.

 

[Aspradlin9189]

Sorry

 

[Major PITA]

Looks great!