1st Grow, am I doing this right?

[NewGrower89]

Started with 5 different feminized autoflower seeds. 3 of them germinated. I am now just finishing week 4. I feel like they are small with a few big fan leaves and not much branch growth. Should they be fuller and starting to flower by now? My soil is a mixture of organic FoxFarms nutrient soil, Purple Cow Indicanja nutrient soil, and coco coir. In 7 gal fabric pots. Trying to go all organic, no added synthetics. Full spectrum LED grow lights on a 20/4 schedule. I topped the wedding cheese cake, and removed the bottom pair of fan leaves/branches on all three at week 3. The Banana Purple Punch is starting to catch up to the cheesecake now, and the Skunk Auto looks like a runt. Are these doing ok or are these stunted and small for 4 weeks?

 

[RoadKillSkunkHunt]

Do you have a regular grow light? The light you have isn't sufficient for robust growth. Otherwise, the plants do look good. Just not growing very fast.

 

[NewGrower89]

Do you have a regular grow light? The light you have isn't sufficient for robust growth. Otherwise, the plants do look good. Just not growing very fast.

This is the light I bought for $50 off Amazon. Have about $300 invested and that's my limit right now, nothing fancy, just wanted to try out a grow and see if I enjoyed it and it worked well before investing any more money into it. Figured if I get at least 3 oz out of it I would at least break even from having to buy 3 oz from someone else, and know it's organic.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Autos still need to reach sexual maturity before you can flower. Your soil is a good choice and you should be top dressing or using organic nutes by now.
The problem is the light. I think I saw thos on amazon they total about 65 watts. A single plant needs more than 65 watts past mid veg and much more in flower.
Truthfully all 3 should look like the shorty. The low light has them stretched with large spacing.

Drop the light way down to the plants.They do not look like they are strong enough to damage anything and will get some energy into the plant.

 

[NewGrower89]

Autos still need to reach sexual maturity before you can flower. Your soil is a good choice and you should be top dressing or using organic nutes by now.
The problem is the light. I think I saw thos on amazon they total about 65 watts. A single plant needs more than 65 watts past mid veg and much more in flower.
Truthfully all 3 should look like the shorty. The low light has them stretched with large spacing.

Drop the light way down to the plants.They do not look like they are strong enough to damage anything and will get some energy into the plant.

I haven't even looked into nutes. was hoping buying nutrient rich soil would be enough to skip all that. I have the lights at the shortest height on the highest setting. Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to get better lights before this grow finishes. But good to know that seems to be the only problem right now.

 

[closettrapper217]

Raise the plants up closer to the light maybe?

 

[JIMKSI64]

Ok move the plants UP then. not kidding 6 inches from the plant. you will see a reaction.
I use HF and OF for both photos and autos. I would try to stay organic as much as you can. Ace hardware can get Dr Earth organic and being organic it is hard to mess up. I top dress with a conditioner made by Fox farms but it would not work during flower. You should just get a flower nute. Unless you are doing a pour nute stay away from 3 part kits unless they use sugar and not salt loke epsom. Dr earth flower girl is $17 a bag at walmart.

 

[JIMKSI64]

when you shop for lights and you will shop for lights the bug is in you now growme remember some rules about lights.
Take your tent size and multiply say 3x3 would equal 9 square feet. If you are going to fill a tent that size you need to average 40-50 INPUT watts per square foot. 360-450 watts of lights. for an olen room grow just measure how much area you have that the plants will cover
You can grow pot with less energy but not nearly as well. If you have to only use this light I would recommend aiming it at the shorty and put the other 2 outside when weather gets better.

 

[NewGrower89]

I was planning on growing these outside after they past the seedling stage and were transfered to their pots. But this New York weather has been fluctuating like crazy and it's still too cold out. Had a week in the mid 70's degrees range when I started them. but then it dropped back down to 50's past few weeks. Hence the last minute cheap light purchase and had to clean out a closet for them instead.

 

[closettrapper217]

I was planning on growing these outside after they past the seedling stage and were transfered to their pots. But this New York weather has been fluctuating like crazy and it's still too cold out. Had a week in the mid 70's degrees range when I started them. but then it dropped back down to 50's past few weeks. Hence the last minute cheap light purchase and had to clean out a closet for them instead.

Yeah I live in ct and I know what you’re talking about. I keep bringing mine out. Then in then out then in lol but yeah if you get them outside when it gets nice them things will have a nice head start and should get pretty nice.

 

[JIMKSI64]

OMG I did not know the situation.
First of all if you harden the plants off properly I would not worry about 50 degree temps. These are weeds and tough. The big problem you will have is wind with the stretch. These would get flattened in no time. You will need to get some support for the darlings and start with lowering night time temps to expected temps outside. Then you can harden for sunlight.

Dude good luck!

 

[NewGrower89]

I have a pretty decent fan rocking them since the start but At this point I don't know if they will go out. It's still getting down into the 30's some nights and I'm not carrying them in and out every day. My main concern was the info on these autos saying they are ready to harvest in 8-9 weeks. If that's the case I feel like there won't even be anything to harvest yet! Will they just keep growing until they are ready even if it takes 12-14 weeks or are they ruined already.

 

[JIMKSI64]

If you see pistles starting up and you can not get them outside I would say you have very little chance at this point. The nutes in the pot will not carry theough the grow and Organic top dressing has a spool up that takes a while, 7-10 days. You are not empty of nutes due to low demand from low light but that has to change.

 

[closettrapper217]

I would recommend putting them outside in like a week. The nights should be plenty warm by then.

The times breeders give for plants is never right lol I see that come up on the forums more than anything. Even if they were spot on that would be perfect growing conditions with very powerful lights. But if you wanna leave them under them lights and prove everyone wrong. Post pics. I’d love to see it!

Good luck man! Best part is you can try over and over!

 

[NewGrower89]

Did some more reading, downloaded a PPFD reader app. It was only hitting 100. Just lowered the lights. Reading around 350 now. Guess it needs to be between 600-900 for flowering. This light just ain't gunna cut it. I'll update when I get this problem solved. Or if they end up outside

 

[Glomus]

Plants look solid G, just keep topping them if they are stretching. keep them vegging as long as you need. once the weather turns they will rip.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Plants look solid G, just keep topping them if they are stretching. keep them vegging as long as you need. once the weather turns they will rip.

He is using auto flowers he is on a clock and can not extend veg.

 

[RoadKillSkunkHunt]

If a new grow light is out of the question, follow some of the suggestions mentioned in the posts above .... like move the light closer to the plant for starters.

I'd also recommend a bit of reading. It seems like you dove in without doing enough research. Those 3 panel lights like you have are only sufficient for slow growing, low light house plants and not a cannabis plant that has a huge appetite and needs a lot of light.

 

[NewGrower89]

Gave them a bit of sunlight today. Just going to drag them in and out every day I guess.

 

[Glomus]

He is using auto flowers he is on a clock and can not extend veg.

ah, got it. Auto flowers suck.