Accurate Information About Autoflowering Plants

[Panacea79]

Its a bit complex but the simple answer is - in veg you want a slightly lower ph than in flower
so start with your soil at a ph of 6.8 and during veg your feed should be 6.3 and in flower your feed should be 6.5-6.6

your run off ph will indicate the ph of your soil there is an equation for working out soil ph from your run off which I will post later for you, but the basics of it are if you are putting in 6.5 and it is coming out at 6.4 then your soil is at 6.3. double the difference from in to out will give you soil ph.

Its hard to get the ph too high but easy to get it too low so my advice is, if you haven't got them yet then, get yourself a ph pen for measuring the ph of the feed and a ph spike for measuring the ph of your soil

Thanx. Yeah I definitely need to get a pen. Right now I'm using the ph up/down liquid set from GH. I mean I can get my nute solution in there between 6-7 using the chart and my eyeballs but there's no way I could use the runoff method you mentioned w/o a pen. I just tested my smaller plant (who I renamed 'Mrs. Emily' after my sweet soul of a dog who we had to put down after a pretty good run of it at 14, a Pugalier, which is a King Charles Spaniel and a Pug mix so if you think puggles are cute then you haven't SEEN cute til you've seen a Pugalier...anyway) sorry, I just miss her so much. Ok, so Mrs. Emily's runoff test came back as very acidic but I don't see ANYsigns of nute burn OR deprivation or really ANY abnormalities. Pretty much as healthy as her namesake was UNHEALTHY. I do have a soil testing kit from GH as well with the little tablets and vials and u can test ph, nitro, phosphorus, potassium....basically everything so if I start seeing any outward signs of stress I guess I can run that. Sorry for the book. Keep it green fellas. LEAVES TOO, Ike, lol!

 

[Quagmire]

Umm.. I just wanted to share something.. in 10yrs of growing I've never used a PH pen or PPM pen of any kind. My wife says I've got a green thumb and can make anything grow.. Headaches growing pure Coir but this new soil seems to be the bomb.. but that's just me huh? hehe

 

[Tarsey]

Hi; I am having the same problem. Not sure but could my problem be that the lights are too hot? Also I have pictures of one of my Auto's that does not look like any of the others. Could it be a male? I was told they are all female. Check out the pictures and let me know.
Thanks

 

[Quagmire]

I didn't really see any males, but the photos were hard to tell.. HINT; Males will have clusters of, well, actual balls.. instead of white hairs popping out of the calyx your gonna see them clustering up in groups. then they'll open and seed up the females in 6wks.
Your plants are sure having some issues but it may be more then just a hot light because I'm not seeing the tops of your plants burning, but coming from the bottom up like a deficiency of some type.. calmag and phosphorous is my guess but I'd google MJ Plant deficiencies and look at a few charts that show each nutrient and what it does to the plant ok... been a bit since I've looked at one or I'd be more help..
How hot is your room running??
How dry is that soil? just looked dry a bit.
good luck man..

 

[Kushtache]

My first grow and my first post to THC Farmer. I am growing in a 3gal. pots
w/ 3 plants. Looks like they need food?....

 

[Panacea79]

Hi; I am having the same problem. Not sure but could my problem be that the lights are too hot? Also I have pictures of one of my Auto's that does not look like any of the others. Could it be a male? I was told they are all female. Check out the pictures and let me know.
ThanksView attachment 539855

Yeah I don't think u have males there. Interesting leaf growing formation but that could just be the strain/pheno. And I agree that there's definitely a little nute deficiency. I have two fan leaves on my biggest girl now that look similar but she's in week 3 or 4 flowering so I'm kinda expecting those to start to fall off or change color as all the energy is used up from the flowering. Check the nutrient deficiencies forum. There's pics. Good luck

 

[Tarsey]

I didn't really see any males, but the photos were hard to tell.. HINT; Males will have clusters of, well, actual balls.. instead of white hairs popping out of the calyx your gonna see them clustering up in groups. then they'll open and seed up the females in 6wks.
Your plants are sure having some issues but it may be more then just a hot light because I'm not seeing the tops of your plants burning, but coming from the bottom up like a deficiency of some type.. calmag and phosphorous is my guess but I'd google MJ Plant deficiencies and look at a few charts that show each nutrient and what it does to the plant ok... been a bit since I've looked at one or I'd be more help..
How hot is your room running??
How dry is that soil? just looked dry a bit.
good luck man..

On ave. its about 80f. Yea, you right it is not the top leaves. I keep raising the lights and getting worse.. Maybe too much nute's in the water. PH is fine. Its only a couple of girl's that are doing it and they are getting the same stuff. I'm stumped. Going on line to see if someone my know what I am doing wrong.
Thanks

 

[IkeTheDon]

@IkeTheDon listen to this guy^^^^^^^^ that's the great Yogurt...
Use the Shwartz..
STR8

Hey guys definitely have learned a ton in the past week or so.... In trimming the leaves I see the buds now are very dense but also I had tons of popcorn buds next time around will chop those sooner I think she will b ready in another two weeks buds sticky like a pine cone tested a few not bad but better with each test

 

[IkeTheDon]

Hey Don... I'm hoping you didn't misunderstand me when I was trying to explain to you how to FIM cut your plants, but I don't remember saying anything about trimming away every leaf like that. I remove SOME lower leaf material for good air flow but like Seraphim says, I believe more in tying or tucking them large fan leaves.. consider them your solar panels, and everything a plant does that is good evolves around photosynthesis, converting light energy to the plant. When ya cut them away to soon your buds are going to stop growing. Don't get me wrong, I trim a few away on a very very leafy strain, but never strip them until a few days before the chop just to get ahead on the trimming process, but by then the plants are pretty much done plumping up and fully flowered.. FIM cutting is just taking the top part of the plant and cutting the leafy material in half to promote lower branching and not all strains like it and why I experiment.. on your next grow, try just concentrating on growing one out and leaving it be, then learn slowly as you go along.. remember, many of us have YEARS under our belts of mistake making and one thing we've learned, sometimes ya learn the hard way.. good luck bud

Yea honestly I wasn't sure what you meant and got a lil trigger happy definitely a learning experience next time around I plan on letting some of the smaller buds/branches go I had tons of popcorn buds

Thank for the advice mate

 

[IkeTheDon]

Since I switched to Roots Organic soil I've not had a Calmag issue yet.. this stuff is magical and I use it over and over again.. this soil is on it's 3rd run, no flushing I just stop nutes about 10 days before harvest.. one grow I actually only used nutrients twice as a test and the plants did just fine.. go read up what all is in this soil.. Roots Organic by Aurora..---- HTG Supply carries it near me. not bad price either.. just add some fresh soil to the reused stuff and all good... and on your feeding.. as long as your not seeing leaf tips browning, a sign of nute burn, keep giving her a little more each time you feed.. some pheno's gobble up the nutrients and this stuff sounds awesome.. and the NPK on it is low enough that you should be able to double up the dosage like I used to do with Fox Farms big bud.. luck brother.

With the roots organic is drainage a issue I'm looking into coco coir read it is close to impossible to over water, is roots organic similar to court with extra perlite etc????

 

[IkeTheDon]

With the roots organic is drainage a issue I'm looking into coco coir read it is close to impossible to over water, is roots organic similar to court with extra perlite etc????

I meant coco coir in above post...

 

[Shroom1986]

@Seraphim19 - thanks for all your help so far, following the schedule I still experienced yellowing around week 4 using biobizz with lightmix.

As I am using only led (vipar 400w reflector and 3 kessil h150) I find I am not watering as often. 1-2 times every 7 days as they are not drying out that quick.

Should I be using higher doses of nutes in this case?

 

[IkeTheDon]

@Seraphim19 - thanks for all your help so far, following the schedule I still experienced yellowing around week 4 using biobizz with lightmix.

As I am using only led (vipar 400w reflector and 3 kessil h150) I find I am not watering as often. 1-2 times every 7 days as they are not drying out that quick.

Should I be using higher doses of nutes in this case?

I too have had issues with drying out usually around 4-5 days between waterings/feeding using ffhf not enough perlite poor drainage... Looking into coco coir for next as I have read it is close to impossible to over water giving opportunitie for more waterings etc...

 

[Panacea79]

Hey all! Quick question which I'm sure has been asked a lot but here goes:
When a breeder states in their description of their seeds, I'm going to say in regards to Autoflowering seeds in this s particular case, that flowering time is 7-9 weeks, do they mean 7-9 weeks from seed? Or do they mean from the time/week/day that the plant actually starts flowering or pre flowering???? ANY feedback would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!
Thanks in advance and keep it green my friends!!

 

[str8smokn]

It's supposed to be from time above ground for Auto's .
For photo plants it starts from time you see first pistols of flowers..
STR8

 

[Panacea79]

It's supposed to be from time above ground for Auto's .
For photo plants it starts from time you see first pistols of flowers..
STR8

Gotcha!
Thanx

 

[Seraphim19]

@Seraphim19 - thanks for all your help so far, following the schedule I still experienced yellowing around week 4 using biobizz with lightmix.

As I am using only led (vipar 400w reflector and 3 kessil h150) I find I am not watering as often. 1-2 times every 7 days as they are not drying out that quick.

Should I be using higher doses of nutes in this case?

No don't use higher doses!
You can over fertilise and make matters worse.
It sounds like the roots are having a hard time drying out the soil so I would recommend watering less and from the outside of the pot this will make the roots grow so they can process more feed and dry out the pot quicker.

A critical thing about autos is the first 3 weeks. In this time you want to keep them as close to optimum environmental conditions as possible and at the same time you want to encourage root growth to quickly fill out your pot.

Autos historically have weak root structure, in the best strains this has been bred out but the majority still need a little help to get the roots going

If your pot is more than 12l/3gallon then the roots wont fill it for 4-5 weeks which is why the larger pots are for super autos.
If your pot is 8l/2gallon - 12l/3gallon then the roots should fill the pot by week 4, before they are really needed for budding power

To encourage root growth I do 3 things
1. use root stimulator
2. water only as much as the plant can drink in 3 days
3. water the pot from the outside and only giving the centre a small amount

I hope that by watering less it will correct your yellowing leaves. I have had the same problem and I found it was caused by soil sitting wet too long and sending the ph off.

 

[geori]

Now I have talked about the lifecycle of an auto lets get to how best to grow them

I wont bore you with the simple stuff like germination the only thing I will say on this subject is its best to start them in their final pot as autos don't like to be transplanted, or rather they don't like their roots disturbed.

So lets say you have germinated your seeds and they have broken ground.
The first thing to note is that Autos are very sensitive to nutrients compared to photo period plants. So lets go through the correct way to fertilise them.

Here is a feeding schedule for autos using bio bizz nutrients

View attachment 365805

As you can see for the first 3 weeks there is very little in the way of nutrients, this is because at this age they burn very easily.
The main thing in this time period is root stimulator, as there is a very short veg cycle this helps the roots to get a good foothold and increases the overall growth of the plant.

Once you start to introduce nutrients it is best to start with a quarter of the recommended dose and then slowly increase it to 1/2 - 2/3 of the recommended dosage.

Been on another forum for a current West Coast Fast Bud OG, Fast Bud Blackberry, and Dark Devil auto grow, but will be coming over here once I start my next grow in a few weeks.

Questions about the Bio Bizz.

Do I need to purchase the Bio Bizz soil when using the Bio Bizz nutrients, or can I stick with the Fox Farm Ocean soil that I have been using?

The Bio Bizz looks a bit pricey, and having a bit of a hard time finding a package deal that includes the root stimulator, veg and bloom nutes.. Can someone point me to a good package deal that will get me through a six plant grow? Or maybe I need to find each individually ? Not sure if we can post links within our posts here, so if not, maybe PM me ?

Don't want to bore you guys with the current cfl auto grow, as only a few weeks left to harvest. But since I just invested even more money into a proper tent and 1000 watt hps system in an effort to get my set up optimized, you guys look like great group of people to ask for help before and during my next grow.

After reading through this topic a bit, realized I made the mistake of starting my liquid bloom to early into flowering. The result for two West Coast OG plants turned out just as described earlier in this thread. It stunted the height, and concentrated on bud growth. What were suppose to be 30+ inch tall plants are stuck at a foot.

The use of Bio Bizz is out of my comfort zone, but if it will truly maximize yield, and quality, then willing to give it a go with some help..

Any hooo... Hope you all don't mind, but would like to hang on to you guys shirt tails next grow.. I really want each and every step to be done correctly.

 

[str8smokn]

@geori we would love to see some photos,especially if they are close to finish.
We do not mind you grabbing onto a couple shirt tails,just hold on tight..
STR8

 

[geori]

I give up... Will not let me upload pics via the forums uploading option, and will not accept a direct image url using bb code..

What the ....