The How Not To Grow An Auto Thread

[Barney86]

Welcome ladies and gentlemen,
to my journal of all things auto.

More importantly, all things you shouldn't do to an auto.

I'm not expecting any massive yields. They'll be in a 12/12 space with some photos for most of their lives but gonna have a good pop and see what I can do.

Grow gear consists of ..
130w CFL reflector in 14000k for seedlings.
600w CMH/HPS and some 250w blurples in the bloom space.
Growth technology nutes.
And my baby, the gt205 NFT Res.
For those unfamiliar it's a 20L Res, the roots grow on a shelf above it in nothing but air with a very slow, constant trickle of very week nutes.

Got a glueberry auto and an amnesia haze auto started in my wardrobe just now, I'll get some pics later.

Plan of action is another week in there, then it's up the attic, which will have a bunch of photos on their last weeks.
that means 12/12 for a few weeks.
They'll then get 2 weeks 19/5 while I root up the next lot of photos then it's right back to 12/12

Im gonna transplant them twice, top, lst the shit out of them and defol all the way through veg. Pretty much just do everything to them that people say you shouldn't do to an auto. It works for me.
Not sure what to expect or how much light power they'll actually get as they'll be on the side for most of it but my hydro Res can do some pretty crazy things to a plant.
Record for a 12/12 auto so far is a pretty poor 2.5 Oz but I'll beat that no worries in the Res.
Worst case scenario you can all have a good giggle while it goes tits up.
So roll a fatty, grab some Doritos and I'll get some shit cooking!

 

[Barney86]

@BrixNewb here's my journal for the NFT plants mate. I'll be getting some pics n that up later today. Meant to do it yesterday but was waay to drunk for most of the day lol.

 

[Barney86]

Right, this will probably take me a while to get used to putting photos in order but here we go.

Group shot is 6 photo AK-47 that won't be in this journal, nor will the cuttings be.

Our stars are the 2 wee ones on the right hand side.
Just double checked and it's a DP auto glueberry and a zamnezia auto amnezia.
They're both 5 days from breaking ground and so far they got a tiny watering 3 days ago. That's it.
No pre germ, no mucking about with glasses of ro water or ph'ing anything.
All you need is a fresh from the packet root riot and a seed.
Put the seed in pointy side up 10-15mm deep and chuck it anywhere vaguely warm. Dark, light, doesn't matter. Give it 3 or 4 days and they'll pop every time.

Must be pointy side up. If not there's a chance the seed will get tied up and stuck.
Must also be 10-15mm deep. Any more and it'll most likely get stuck, any less and it'll come out with the shell still on.
10-15mm though and you'll have a perfect seedling every time.

I've just broken the first rule of auto growing aswell and transplanted them into 4 inch rockwools. I use cultylene as I find it's a bit more sturdy than grodan. You'll see why that's important soon enough.

the cubes were thoroughly rinsed in ph7.4 tap water at 48ppm. Then soaked again in the same water. Nothing else.
Gently squeeze 80% if the moisture out of them then drop the root riot in the middle. Get them back in the humidity box. Transplant done.
Again, no nutes, no mucking about, just water from the tap as it comes.
I'm in Scotland so it's cleaner than the bottled stuff thankfully.

I'll start them on nutes in a couple days once they start going yellow.
If they ain't going yellow they aint hungry so don't want fed.
Seedlings are fragile, especially autos and a dose too early can fuck them right up. Bit yellowing will never hurt them though.

Golden rule is that it's easier and less damaging to add something in than it is to take it back out.
Always start small and work your way up.
A little too heavy on the N too soon and you can stunt them. In the auto world that's really not a great idea.

I'll update again in a couple days once they need a feed as haven't quite decided what they're getting yet.

Ahh... Post the pics first then go in and write where I want it. Got it sussed lol

 

[OldSchoolToker]

Nice rooting.

 

[Barney86]

Also the reason I do this transplant from 1" to 4" cubes is partly that the rockwools are a little too tough for the initial tap root to get through so costs you a day or 2. And also that by doing it this way I now have 6 or 7 visible roots with a few more about to show. In a week that will be around a hundred with a bit of luck.
Once you plant that they go mental. Go straight into a 4 inch cube and it'll take much longer to get the roots built up.

 

[Barney86]

Nice rooting.

Healthy roots healthy shoots mate.
Gonna take the piss with the 6 photo ones and keep them in there for another week then 3 weeks in rockwools. Just wanna see what happens lol.