My first time growing any advice

[KolaKing]

My .02

Beginners should not be growing autoflowers. They are finicky, don't handle stress very well and don't give you enough time to deal with whatever issues may crop up before it's time for them to flower. For an experienced grower that can identify issues early and fix them they are a good way to fill in your supply when you are in between harvests but for beginners, IMO, feminized photo period seeds is what I would suggest.

Baby steps. If you're going to be growing indoors then start with a small setup and learn the basics of growing. My suggestion would be to start in a 2 x 2 tent with a good grow light, I recommend ViparSpectra XS1500Pro and a decent little inline fan with a speed controller for you to dial in the fan speed to maintain a good flow of fresh CO2 into the tent. A bigger setup will benefit from an environmental controller but for a setup as small as a 2 x 2, IMO, a controller is a waste of money. Too hard to control the environment in such a small space. Better to control the environmental parameters, temperature and humidity, in the room the tent is in. Buy a hygrometer to monitor the room specs and try and figure out a way to control temp and humidity. For my last grow, I had it setup in a spare office in my old house. I used the home HVAC to control temp along with a humidifier/dehumidifier to control humidity.

Learn how to water your plant properly and start with a basic set of nutrients and a good draining media.

If you do this you should be able to grow a really nice plant that will probably yield you at least a few oz's.

A decent 2 x 2 tent will cost around $40. The VS XS1500Pro can be found for under $100. A small inline fan with speed control will cost around $80. Cloth pots, Media/Soil, Nutrients and all the other little stuff you need will probably total up to around $100.

Or you can buy an all in one kit. I like AC Infinity but there are other companies that put out a similar product. Not as high quality or as intuitive but comparable.

 

[JIMKSI64]

Thank you that s a lot to consider. I will have to get an house humidity gage my home usually runs high in the humidity department especially in the summer. I have a closet that would be perfect. 5 inches away i didn't know that, now I do. Thank you for all of your help and feed back
I will be sure to keep you posted

Most folks who are older have a lot of the things that sure come in handy. I bought one sweep fan but I have lots of fans around here. Small dehumidifiers in a closet will drop humidity.
Amazon has some very useful things. You mentioned a house humidity gage. The ones that are just dials are slow but tend to be pretty accurate. Another choice is any of the available temp and humidity sensors that run on an app. A 3 pack of small sensors that you can check from a phone are pretty reasonable at about $40. You can get multiple readings from the sensors and move fans around and see trends on your phone

Flowering is where you need low humidity. The good thing is that in flower you really do not need to concern yourself with getting to low as a dehumidifier is never going to drop lower than prolly 40% and pot will do fine at 40% with a temp in the proper range.

Good luck

 

[ChairmanFester]

How do you guys feel about the soil bag placed on the plastic water resevoir?

 

[KolaKing]

How do you guys feel about the soil bag placed on the plastic water resevoir?

I use a media brand called Roots Organic. They encourage you to open the bag and plant directly in it.

 

[Junnie]

My .02

Beginners should not be growing autoflowers. They are finicky, don't handle stress very well and don't give you enough time to deal with whatever issues may crop up before it's time for them to flower. For an experienced grower that can identify issues early and fix them they are a good way to fill in your supply when you are in between harvests but for beginners, IMO, feminized photo period seeds is what I would suggest.

Baby steps. If you're going to be growing indoors then start with a small setup and learn the basics of growing. My suggestion would be to start in a 2 x 2 tent with a good grow light, I recommend ViparSpectra XS1500Pro and a decent little inline fan with a speed controller for you to dial in the fan speed to maintain a good flow of fresh CO2 into the tent. A bigger setup will benefit from an environmental controller but for a setup as small as a 2 x 2, IMO, a controller is a waste of money. Too hard to control the environment in such a small space. Better to control the environmental parameters, temperature and humidity, in the room the tent is in. Buy a hygrometer to monitor the room specs and try and figure out a way to control temp and humidity. For my last grow, I had it setup in a spare office in my old house. I used the home HVAC to control temp along with a humidifier/dehumidifier to control humidity.

Learn how to water your plant properly and start with a basic set of nutrients and a good draining media.

If you do this you should be able to grow a really nice plant that will probably yield you at least a few oz's.

A decent 2 x 2 tent will cost around $40. The VS XS1500Pro can be found for under $100. A small inline fan with speed control will cost around $80. Cloth pots, Media/Soil, Nutrients and all the other little stuff you need will probably total up to around $100.

Or you can buy an all in one kit. I like AC Infinity but there are other companies that put out a similar product. Not as high quality or as intuitive but comparable.

Thank you for your feedback.

 

[Junnie]

Most folks who are older have a lot of the things that sure come in handy. I bought one sweep fan but I have lots of fans around here. Small dehumidifiers in a closet will drop humidity.
Amazon has some very useful things. You mentioned a house humidity gage. The ones that are just dials are slow but tend to be pretty accurate. Another choice is any of the available temp and humidity sensors that run on an app. A 3 pack of small sensors that you can check from a phone are pretty reasonable at about $40. You can get multiple readings from the sensors and move fans around and see trends on your phone

Flowering is where you need low humidity. The good thing is that in flower you really do not need to concern yourself with getting to low as a dehumidifier is never going to drop lower than prolly 40% and pot will do fine at 40% with a temp in the proper range.

Good luck

Thank you I will definitely look into that. I will have more funds to invest after My daughter's graduation

 

[brendog]

View attachment 2432521View attachment 2432522View attachment 2432523View attachment 2432526View attachment 2432527there only 6 weeks old. Is this normal for Tropical cookies

 

[brendog]

Definitely autos they will flip into flower with any major stress, they need to be transplanted on time, be very careful not to rip the taproot if you do. The other way is germinating in their flower pot but sometimes you get dud seeds or males. Sometimes you get to flower and a few will be that disappointing ruderalis pheno. The ones I worked with it was roughly 1 out of 100. You can get feminized seeds but they came from a hermed mom, its highly debated but i personally dont think its good for the genetics. I would get regular photos germinate at least 10 and cull the males or any plants that aren't healthy. If you have access to clones it's not a guessing game on the phenos and you don't have to s*x them, clones are touchy for light cycle compared to seeds but autoflowers are, in my opinion, the most difficult. They will flip into flower at an inch tall like what happened for you, or they can blast off and get to 8 foot tall and overgrow your garden.

 

[ChairmanFester]

Definitely autos they will flip into flower with any major stress, they need to be transplanted on time, be very careful not to rip the taproot if you do. The other way is germinating in their flower pot but sometimes you get dud seeds or males. Sometimes you get to flower and a few will be that disappointing ruderalis pheno. The ones I worked with it was roughly 1 out of 100. You can get feminized seeds but they came from a hermed mom, its highly debated but i personally dont think its good for the genetics. I would get regular photos germinate at least 10 and cull the males or any plants that aren't healthy. If you have access to clones it's not a guessing game on the phenos and you don't have to s*x them, clones are touchy for light cycle compared to seeds but autoflowers are, in my opinion, the most difficult. They will flip into flower at an inch tall like what happened for you, or they can blast off and get to 8 foot tall and overgrow your garden.

YES. Mine went flower at 16" and mid flower is 18". I'm going to pull an ounce plus but it could be way better and unfortunately I have room for 2 in the same stage and 20 autoflower seeds as a newbie. I immediately found out about the autoflower mistake lol. But hey I got a bunch of discounts and free rolling papers, plus other swag?

 

[JaBy]

i'm not that much of an expert grower or very familiar with auto's from what i've seen others say in the past an autoflower would likely require much more than a 12 hr light cycle.

 

[brendog]

YES. Mine went flower at 16" and mid flower is 18". I'm going to pull an ounce plus but it could be way better and unfortunately I have room for 2 in the same stage and 20 autoflower seeds as a newbie. I immediately found out about the autoflower mistake lol. But hey I got a bunch of discounts and free rolling papers, plus other swag?

I don't want to be that guy, haha but I am, you can pull way better numbers with photos/clones. Strain dependant, but if you don't inhibit growth and use good grow practices a half pound plant is where i like to be, obviously you can grow a tree and hit much higher numbers but for quick turnaround, more, smaller plants. Bigger plants=bigger problems and more work/more time for mistakes

 

[JIMKSI64]

i'm not that much of an expert grower or very familiar with auto's from what i've seen others say in the past an autoflower would likely require much more than a 12 hr light cycle.

Require? No but you can increase DLI with modest lights remaining at 18-6. I would say for my own grow that running hot lights ( 950-1100 ppfd or 65k to 70k lux the plant would prolly have stress at 18-6 but running at 850ppfd and 60k lux for 18-6 is a higher net energy over time than high lights at 12-12.
The statement that " my plants just look tired at the end of the light day " is one I came across about a year ago. It was a master grower who did multiple mediums and strains and ran 4 tents. It has guided me through a successful grow and is part of the plan

 

[brendog]

i'm not that much of an expert grower or very familiar with auto's from what i've seen others say in the past an autoflower would likely require much more than a 12 hr light cycle.

The guy i bred autos with(a very reputable breeder) runs 24h to get the most growth as possible in your limited time. Til you see the first signs of flower, usually at 1 month, then flip to regular 12/12, i did like 6000 one year, planted in between the pots on a full sun/full season garden if you time it right they finish before they get shaded out, gotta be in pots though, the ones in native soil, with the increasing spring light cycle refused to flip and got to 8 foot tall. I've seen some great auto runs online but they're really just for quick turnaround extractions, subpar quality product and poor bag appeal with up to 256 phenos

i'm not that much of an expert grower or very familiar with auto's from what i've seen others say in the past an autoflower would likely require much more than a 12 hr light cycle.

 

[ChairmanFester]

One good flat panel LED wide spectrum light @100w per plant is what I see everywhere, and make sure it doesn't get hot. Mine is near the forced air filtered out with a passive hepa filtered inlet. I get a couple degrees bump but you can safely teabag the light.
The first commenter on my intro thread had a blog about autos as a pain in the ass and I 100% agree but I have to live with the seeds I bought. I have tweaks to the soil and more agressive nutes up from a bare minimum for the 2" seedling growing now. I am committed to 1-3 plants at a time though, I'm happy there.

i'm not that much of an expert grower or very familiar with auto's from what i've seen others say in the past an autoflower would likely require much more than a 12 hr light cycle.

18/6 like everyone says. We all start somewhere, me and you too. The learning is the journey, and there isn't an end. YOU CAN DO IT!

 

[ArtfulCodger]

The first commenter on my intro thread had a blog about autos as a pain in the ass

I'm still laughing at your "Satan made me buy autos" line, btw.

 

[ChairmanFester]

I'm still laughing at your "Satan made me buy autos" line, btw.

I think I'll just consider them all a learning tool, after all, one screw up and they freak out. I can existentially punish myself for my personal state of being lol, and learn as a "flagellant". Romantic, no?

 

[amneziaHaze]

View attachment 2432546

at least tell me you broke the plastic off?
you can download ppfd meter app icon is like a blue/purpleish circle.
and see how much lux do you have