Need peer review, first grow in over a decade

[Bigdeez]

Hey guys. New to the forum, I’m looking for some advice. I did a handful of half ass indoor grows quite a few years ago so my experience is shit. M Decided to give it a shot since my state went recreational and our state legislature can’t make their damn minds up about dispensaries. OH!

Grow details:
3x3 AC infinity tent setup
Ionboard s33 light
70/30 coco perlite mix with guideline Gaia green 4-4-4 and worm castings per volume mixed in 1 gal fabric pots
Avg humidity 60% and temp 77.2f for the past 4 weeks
Daily or bi-daily watering around 5.8-6.2ph RO water depending on soil dryness.
Weekly feedings with 4-4-4 at manufacturer guidelines online. Mixed between water solution or top dress feedings.
Light power at 7/10 at 18 inches above canopy on 20/4 intervals
Circulation fan on at 4 speed 4 hours on, 30 mins off.

Deed details: purple lemonade auto flower from Atlantic seed co.

Pics: pictures attached are now, which are 4 weeks and 4 days from the day seedlings broke soil

Questions: Growth was stunted from the get go, not sure why?

Why is the blue markers top leaves purple? This one’s been the runt from the beginning, even though you could call them all runts based on what they look like at almost 5 weeks old as autos.

It looks like at least 3 of the 5 are in flower or pre flower, but are still so small?

Lime green tips?

Top leaves have a slight upward curl?

Deep green leaves?

Yellow dots on red and white stakes, is this fungus, nute burn or a deficiency?

I’m enjoying the hell out of this experience and have been trying to blindly walk through the woods on this first grow and decided it’s time to ask for opinions or help. I’m probably going to try photos next time but I just want to see what I can do here, if anything, to get some sort of yield out of these girls.

Thanks in advance guys/gals!

 

[budsofgeorgia]

next time dont fck with autos lol

 

[Natep]

next time dont fck with autos lol

I agree stick with photos until you have everything dialed in.

 

[cannafarmer420]

Turn your light down

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Grow details:
3x3 AC infinity tent setup
Ionboard s33 light
70/30 coco perlite mix with guideline Gaia green 4-4-4 and worm castings per volume mixed in 1 gal fabric pots
Avg humidity 60% and temp 77.2f for the past 4 weeks
Daily or bi-daily watering around 5.8-6.2ph RO water depending on soil dryness.
Weekly feedings with 4-4-4 at manufacturer guidelines online. Mixed between water solution or top dress feedings.
Light power at 7/10 at 18 inches above canopy on 20/4 intervals
Circulation fan on at 4 speed 4 hours on, 30 mins off.

Deed details: purple lemonade auto flower from Atlantic seed co.

Pics: pictures attached are now, which are 4 weeks and 4 days from the day seedlings broke soil

Your equipment list looks good. The temperature and humidity are okay. The light might be too intense. More distance between the light and the crown would be better.

Questions: Growth was stunted from the get go, not sure why?

I think your soil and water are your main problems because you're mixing growing methods. Why are you using RO water? Is there a problem with your tap water? There usually are valuable minerals in tap water. Gaia Green with worm castings normally doesn't require pH adjustment. You'd likely be better off with synthetic nutrients with coir and perlite. In that case, pH adjustment might be needed. The soil, nutrients and how they're applied are the probable cause of poor growth.

Why is the blue markers top leaves purple? This one’s been the runt from the beginning, even though you could call them all runts based on what they look like at almost 5 weeks old as autos.

I suspect pigmentation is a stress response. It's an unhappy plant.

It looks like at least 3 of the 5 are in flower or pre flower, but are still so small?

Yes. They aged into the flowering stage. It's what autos do.

Lime green tips?

Nutrient issues.

Top leaves have a slight upward curl?

Light stress.

Deep green leaves?

Excess nitrogen.

Yellow dots on red and white stakes, is this fungus, nute burn or a deficiency?

Probably nutrient deficiencies. Fungus is unlikely.

---

If it were my grow, I'd consider starting over. If you let these finish, I doubt you'd get an ounce. It'd be nice to get something, though. The potency could be good.

For your next grow, consider changing your growing medium, nutrients and watering. Maybe try to get a discussion going in this thread. There are many ways to mix soil.

Regarding growing auto-flower strains, I agree with the others. Grow photos. Many folks say they're better for inexperienced growers. The grower has more control and they're generally more forgiving.

 

[Mr.OrganicGrows]

I grow autos with a similar AC set up. The response above break down what’s going on very well. But as a side note..

With gg 444, they are slow release nutes. No need for weekly feeding.

For soil I use 70% promix hp and 30% fox farm ocean forest. No problems with this mix so far. Give it a try next time.

Also, pots are on the small side of things. I typically grow in 3 gal. But 5 is preferred for autos.

Good luck

 

[LoveGrowingIt]

Also, pots are on the small side of things. I typically grow in 3 gal. But 5 is preferred for autos.

I meant to mention pots and forgot. 5-gallon is what I use. It's a convenient size. It's the same size as those buckets they sell in hardware stores, and that can help when mixing. They usually take one gallon of water, and that size of watering can is commonly available. What I was going to mention is it's better not to have them sitting on the floor. Use a plant elevator and a saucer. The elevator allows better air flow. These plants need good aeration of the roots when grown in soil.

 

[Bigdeez]

Thanks for the feedback guys @LoveGrowingIt @Mr.OrganicGrows . Very helpful! So I’m using RO water because my city tap water sits around 340-390 PPM. Is that safe to use?

It sounds like I need to ditch the coco substrate all together and try a soil mix, here are some dumb questions:

If I use a soil mix like the pro mix/fox farm combo, do you need to amend the soil or does it have what it needs for the full cycle of the plant? I suppose I’m confused about which methods you need to “feed” and which ones you don’t, and also how.

I have a lot of Gaia green 4-4-4 and 2-4-8 as well as coco substrate left over. Can I make these work on the next try or is that too advanced for a beginner? What is a good medium that’s not outside of my experience where I can use the GG I have?

If you had to point me in the right direction for a beginner medium and method, what would you recommend?

I’m going to hit the drawing board and read a bit more and watch some videos. I think I missed the mark on overall method and what nutes to use and how.

 

[Stokes]

Next time try a conventional soil or peat mix add some coco in. Organic coco sucks. Its doable but it wants to dry out too fast, and microbes and the roots hate it. It can be finnicky even with regular addition of microbes


Its not impossible, and you get the hang of it pretty quickly. Wetting agents are good. Ive just never seen any benefit to it over a traditional organic soil grow, and ive never seen it yield anywhere close. Just my two cents