First grow. Autoflowers in promix hp

[Knifemaker]

Update day 4
Morning all
Not much to report as yet. The ladies are chugging along with Gelato the clear leader of the group. Still haven't had to water them yet, waiting for the pots to be dry first.
Zkittles seems to have recovered from her adventure above ground but is still decidedly smaller than her tent mates. Any chance of her catching up and providing a decent yeild or is she stunted and destined to be smaller for the rest of her life?

 

[Klinstead]

Looking good knifemaker and congrats on a 100% germination rate. Zkittles will catch up, no worries there man.

 

[Knifemaker]

Update day 7
Morning THC farm,
Not alot to report, all 3 of my plants are progressing. Last night I gave all 3 a bit of water. (I mixed a litre and a half of RO water with 2ml of voodoo juice) each plant got about a half litre watered in a ring about 2" from the stem. This is the first water I've given them except the preliminary drench of the promix. All 3 looking happy and perky this morning so I think they liked it.
Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

Update day 9
Gave the littles a good drink last night at lights on (lights come on at 8pm off at 2pm for 18-6)
Each one took a full gallon of RO water with a 1/4 dose each of calmag, voodoo juice, and B52.
Min (NL) was looking pretty droopy, not sure if it was that she was really wanting a drink or if it was just because the lights had been off.
All 3 are looking happy as heck this morning praying hard to the sp250.

Question for you all, about my lights. I've currently got my sp250 hanging about 36" above the top of the pots. Do you think I should be lower than that? I didn't want to burn the littles with too much light too early. They dont seem to be stretching to get closer so far but I'd like to give them all the light they can handle.
Thanks
Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

Well-Known Member
Update day 11
Morning everyone not alot to update this morning, 2 of the 3 are packing on new growth. The 3rd (Zkittles) is getting bigger but doesnt seem to be popping out any new growth.

I'm currently not holding out much hope for it but will let it grow for now.

I lowered my light from 36" down to 32" last night. This morning, I noticed maybe a slight bit of leaf curl on all 3. Nothing really serious yet so I'll leave it for now and see if it gets worse before rasie it back up. (if its even due to the lights. Please correct me if you think it could be somthing else)

Gelato is Killing it. Only an inch and a half tall with the first teue leaves sprowting and starting to pop new growth from the first node.

NL is just slightly behind Gelato with first true leaves sprouting but a touch shorter and maybe the start of new growth at the first node.

I also added a vic's cool mist humidifier which brought my RH up to 50-52 so I'm happy with that.

Thanks for everyone's help and advice.
Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

Update day 13

Things are moving along nicely, Gelato (Elayne) is still star pupil

Just popping out it's first set of 5 bladers.

The stem on this plant is about 1.5 to 2 times the thickness of the other two.

NL (Min) is following hard on Gelato's heels.
Also working on its first set of 5ers

Lastly, there may be hope for Zkittles (Aviendha) yet. Finally seeing some new growth popping up in the centre not just making the stuff it already had bigger.

Enjoy the weekend (the long weekend, for us here in canada)

Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

Made a time lapse vid

 

[Knifemaker]

I'm not sure but I think my poor Zkittles plant is developing a calcium def. Noticed some rust colores speckles on one of her leaves. Ill watch it for now and possibly raise the calmag amount in the next watering.

 

[Jimster]

I'm not sure but I think my poor Zkittles plant is developing a calcium def. Noticed some rust colores speckles on one of her leaves. Ill watch it for now and possibly raise the calmag amount in the next watering.
View attachment 871268

I think your plants are WAY to young and small to be showing ANY signs of a deficiency, two sets of leaves doesn't say too much about a plant's health unless they are very noticeable. The leaf curling is the equivalent of a pimple...it is too small to be life threatening and it will probably heal on it's own very quickly. Don't woory too much about your first set of leaves or two... they often get damaged or gimpy. You need to pay attention mostly to the new growth and make sure it looks healthy, since plants don't heal earlier injuries... they just allow the damaged areas to die off and grow new leaves instead of healing damaged ones. The amount of nutrients used by young plants is miniscule... even a plant a few ft tall uses very little. If you compare the fertilizer use of a regular corn farmer and compare it to what many growers dump on their plants, the farmer could probably plant 2-3 more fields of crops using the same amount per plant. Many newer growers think that the more that you feed them, the more massive they will become, but it doesn't work like that for the most part. In my last 4 grows, each one roughly 6-7, 7 ft plants in 6 gallon buckets, I've used half a container of nutrients (Jacks 20-20-20 or a Blooming mix with less nitrogen and more of the others.) which isn't too much compared to what some feel is necessary
OK...I'm done preaching. Plants usually sprout with enough energy to get them started, and when starting, their feeding requirements are tiny. A plant 7-8' tall uses a lot more nutrients than a 2 ft tall SCROG, but even the big plants don't take too much, IMHO.

 

[Knifemaker]

Update day 15
Last night at lights on, all 3 pots were only slightly heavier than the dry sample pot I have set up so I can make sure I dont water too often. So I gave all 3 a good drink with their first taste of the micro-grow-bloom nutes each plant got .3 gallons(5.6 cups) of straight RO water to pre dampen the soil then each got 1 gal of RO water mixed with 1ml/L each of calmag, M-G-B, voodoo juice and B52. Watered in a ring around the plants and made sure the very outside edges of the pots got the most water. Got about a cup of run off from each one.
This morning they are all looking very happy and praying hard to the SP250.

Zkittles (Aviendha) is still the least developed but is finally looking like she's gonna get somewhere.

Gelato (Elayne) is by far the most vigorous of the three, I mean just look at the girth of her stem. If you zoom in on the base of the stem, It almost looks like it grew so fat, so fast it actually split itself open then healed up. I have high hopes for this one.

Northern Lights (Min) is a bit paler than Elayne or Aviendha so hopefully this dose of nutes will get her looking happier.

Since Ive only got 3 plants going and I'm allowed to have 4 I'm thinking I might drop another Zkittles auto outside in the vegetable garden and see what it does out in the sun planted right in the ground.
The temps at night are almost warm enough that I can start to plant the garden soon so I'll drop a seed in water today or tomorrow.

Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

I think your plants are WAY to young and small to be showing ANY signs of a deficiency, two sets of leaves doesn't say too much about a plant's health unless they are very noticeable. The leaf curling is the equivalent of a pimple...it is too small to be life threatening and it will probably heal on it's own very quickly. Don't woory too much about your first set of leaves or two... they often get damaged or gimpy. You need to pay attention mostly to the new growth and make sure it looks healthy, since plants don't heal earlier injuries... they just allow the damaged areas to die off and grow new leaves instead of healing damaged ones. The amount of nutrients used by young plants is miniscule... even a plant a few ft tall uses very little. If you compare the fertilizer use of a regular corn farmer and compare it to what many growers dump on their plants, the farmer could probably plant 2-3 more fields of crops using the same amount per plant. Many newer growers think that the more that you feed them, the more massive they will become, but it doesn't work like that for the most part. In my last 4 grows, each one roughly 6-7, 7 ft plants in 6 gallon buckets, I've used half a container of nutrients (Jacks 20-20-20 or a Blooming mix with less nitrogen and more of the others.) which isn't too much compared to what some feel is necessary
OK...I'm done preaching. Plants usually sprout with enough energy to get them started, and when starting, their feeding requirements are tiny. A plant 7-8' tall uses a lot more nutrients than a 2 ft tall SCROG, but even the big plants don't take too much, IMHO.

Thanks Jimster, that plant is the same age as my other 2 (15days old today) it had a hard start to life and has been lagging behind its tentmates since.
I'll keep an eye on the rust spots and hopefully they dont spread.
Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Knifemaker]

Update day 17
Morning everyone
The plants seemed to like their feeding. Gelato (Elayne) is already pushing out node #5 NL (Min) is on node 4 and zkittles (Aviendha) is getting her 3rd. Other than that pretty much the same.

 

[Jimster]

In my opinion, I think it is still a little early to be giving nutes, but the plants look pretty good. Be careful when they are small like this, as they are very fragile and overfeeding can hurt them, but you seem to be doing pretty well! I'm an older guy, so I try to go easy on most of the chemicals and stuff that folks use on their plants nowadays. The hardest task in growing, is simply letting them grow unmolested. I just use a handful of things, with 20-20-20 fertilizer from WalMart being about the only bought item. Once they get going, I feed them about every 10 days (1 Tablespoon 20-20-20/gallon H2O) and water as needed, which is every day at mid flowering and on.
I don't usually post pics, but the picture here is a week before finishing/flowering, using Promix, wood ashes, and Jack's 20-20-20. No fancy potions or special nutes, just a few ingredients is all that you need! Pardon the lousy lighting and stripes...the camera doesn't get along with the lights!

 

[Knifemaker]

The current nutrients Im feeding are only going to be used for this first run. I have a High brix blend kit en route but will have to cook the soil for 30 days before I can use it. This grow is for making mistakes, dialing in my environment, and seeing what I get using these bottled nutrients over the amendments, foliar sprays and teas that come in the DBHBB kit
Thanks for your input as always :-)
Have a knife day
StaySharp

 

[Jimster]

Keep up the good work! I've done it so long it is like 2nd nature, and it will come to you quickly as well. Nothing like experience to take care of problems. After 30+ years of growing, there is a TON that I don't know, especially a lot of the newer stuff. Nutrients don't really change much, just the graphics on the packaging. Once you get familiar with the plants, you will be able to look at them and just about instantly know what the problem might be... unless it is a new problem. I ran into this issue when I was given a clone with spider mites, something I never had to deal with before. Now I'm becoming an expert in them! Damn bugs!!

 

[Knifemaker]

I've been told I should let this grow happen au natural and not get training happy but this Gelato plant is just begging to be quadlined. I can hear it asking when I check on it. Lol ;-)
I'm currently at day 18 from sprout and Just pushing out the 5th node. Would I be best to take the bottom 2 nodes off now and wait till the 20th or 21st day to let the 5th node come up a bit more before I top?

Have a knife day

 

[Jimster]

I don't know that removing the bottom leaves is really useful for anything... I prefer to leave all of the leaves on at the bottom...it might benefit you to remove some of the smaller branches at flowering, but during vegging, I like to let as much leaf on as possible, not including the one's I sacrifice for allowing the light to get to the growth sites. I'm not familiar with a lot of the advanced training methods, so my advice on this is limited. I would have topped/pinched the top node by now, but again, my grow system is different and my plants usually grow taller than most of the newer growing methods. I usually top once, maybe twice depending on the strain... with clones that have been re-vegged, there are so many new branches that topping gets to be an unnecessary task. Good luck...I've seen some that have been amazing looking! Just be careful and go easy on the nutes!

 

[Knifemaker]

With Quadline training you grow the plant up to at least the 5th node then you remove nodes 1 and 2, let it rest a day or two then top just above the 4th node leaving 4 branches that get Lst trained out into an x pattern. Makes for a ton of cola sites to pop up

No my picture but shows the beginning steps

 

[Edinburgh]

That's northern lights, grow bags are foroutdoor use, I use nursery pots, but nl is a big plant so you may have some luck, autoflowers are time oriented plants with a limited lifespan, I grow in pots beacuse it's easy to drain, by day 21 or so once your auto lays down it's roots it's leaves should have stretched over the side of your pot, by around day 20 or so, then it will go into a 10 to 12 day growth spurt, and after day 30 they slow down considerably, I have been gr6autos for years there tricky, they best thing is to buy good seedstock. Pic 1 cotton candy cane, pic 3 revolver, all autoflowers, good luck and welcome.

 

[Jimster]

With Quadline training you grow the plant up to at least the 5th node then you remove nodes 1 and 2, let it rest a day or two then top just above the 4th node leaving 4 branches that get Lst trained out into an x pattern. Makes for a ton of cola sites to pop up

No my picture but shows the beginning steps View attachment 871806

That is what I call pinching (since we used to "pinch off" the growing tips), although it is the same as topping. I usually top or pinch Sativa's twice, Indica's once or not at all if clones, since they tend to be bushier. The 4 main branches are trained to lay horizontally, with the buds that normally grow on the side growing like new, individual plants, which produce a row of sizable colas along each of the branches. The problem with laying out Sativa's horizontally is that they can easily cover a 5X5 area per plant. With the picture you posted, each of those frosty areas on your branches would be growing vertically off of the horizontal branch, and getting another branch's worth of buds from each of those. Just continue to flatten out the branches daily... if it's a Sativa you can do this as long as you have the space. When you flip the lights, things will go wild since Sativa's continue to grow while flowering. I don't think this will work as well with Indica's, but pinching/splitting/topping/fimming all work well in general.