Picasso looking plants (first timer)

[Nate_in_AK]

These girls have already overcome several missteps on my part, avoiding death at least twice. They started from seedlings on Feb 12th; both auto-flowers.

They were topped once early on, but in consideration of the poor start I gave them, I did not attempt further cuts. Now they look strangely asymmetrical and short, not like most of the plants posted here. Both are Indica dominant - BlackBerry Kush and Bubbagum.

My concern is primarily from reading that the plants should be further along by now, and should begin flowering soon. Should I do anything else, or just keep 'em alive and wait??

Info on the environment:

• 4' wide, 2' deep, 5.5' high tent.
• DWC (no top drip)
• Delicious Alaskan tap water (really, it comes out of the faucet at 6.5pH and tastes great!)
• Phlizon 900W LED, at least 24" above plants
• Active Aqua 15L 4 port air pump - 2x stones per bucket
• Growth Science Nutrients Base + Solid Start
• pH tested daily with color drop kit
• AC Infinity fan controller w/ humidity and temp + charcoal filter
• One tent flap is about 1/2 open for air intake
• Water level approx 1" below bottom of pots.
• Roots slightly tan, smell like roots. No slime.
• Reservoir water temp 70-75F. I swap out frozen water bottles to keep it below 75.
• There is an ultrasonic humidifier running full time, as well as a small fan to keep air circulating. The fan is NOT blowing directly on the plants.
• I never spray the plants with anything.
• Tent temp = 75F
• Target humidity = 50-60%

I don't have an EC/PPM meter. I'll get one soon; def before my next grow.

The girls:

BlackBerry Kush.

Bubbagum. I'm nearly certain the malformed/twisted leaves are the result of past errors and are no longer mutating. This one got hit the hardest by my newbie errors.

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[Jimster]

To me, your plants look good. I started mine on the 14th of Feb and started from clones. They are taller than yours but not as bushy. What light schedules are you using? They might be stunted from the earlier damage, but if you let them grow another few weeks, they should grow considerably taller. I have found the 18/6 time regimen to be best for my vegging, increasing the light on time more than that seems to keep the plants shorter.

 

[Nate_in_AK]

I don't have a timer for the lights. I read that auto-flowers seem to do fine with 24/0 light, so I am just waiting for flowers pop to turn on the "BLOOM" stage of the light.

Thank you for the feedback. :)

 

[MIMedGrower]

I don't have a timer for the lights. I read that auto-flowers seem to do fine with 24/0 light, so I am just waiting for flowers pop to turn on the "BLOOM" stage of the light.

Thank you for the feedback. :)

If they are growing as good as they look you can turn the “bloom” switch on now. More light is better and the sooner the better.

Also if the autos get stressed you could turn them back to 20 hrs. Some tests I have seen or read and auto breeders have said 20/4 was the best yielding time period against 18 and 24 hrs.

 

[AnselAdams]

I don't have a timer for the lights. I read that auto-flowers seem to do fine with 24/0 light, so I am just waiting for flowers pop to turn on the "BLOOM" stage of the light.

Thank you for the feedback. :)

For autos 24/7 will work. The other thing i might suggest is checking the distance from your light to the top leaves. Get as close as your light will let you without burning. The recommended distance is usually found in the Mfg. blather on their website. Sometimes it is included in the advertisement (in tiny print, usually).

I too would go ahead and crank up those other diodes.... full steam ahead.

Good Luck

Oh, and Nice recovery @Nate_in_Ark. It would appear that your patience paid off