Trying auto-flower as our 3rd grow and it's not going well.

[Growth]

Me and my brother have been growing and completed 3 successful grows. They weren't max yield or super quality but we were making progress. Then we got curious about auto-flowering and followed some YouTubers including Mr. Canuck and a few random others and it doesn't seem to be going well. Other grows at 3-4 weeks like we are at are like 4x the size.

We bought 8 seeds and all but 3 died before sprouting or directly after sprouting.

Anyone able to give some insight?

Pot: 5 Gallon Fabric Pot placed in oil drainage trays to hold excess water.

Medium:
1. Perlite, Organic Soil, Worm Castings
2. Dr Earth Organic Tomato Vegetable and Herb Fertilizer (4-6-3) (4 TBSP)
3. Dr Earth Pure Gold (2-2-2) (1 TBSP)
4. Dr Earth Bud and Bloom Booster (2-9-4) (4 TBSP)

Seeds: Homegrown Cannabis Co.

Temp/RH: 80 through 85 for F and RH

Light: 400W full-spectrum grow light with LM301B LEDs (Came with this tent kit: AC Infinity Tent) (3 FT from Plants)

---

You guys have been a great help in teaching us and helping us improve so far. I really appreciate the help.

 

[hoobastank_enthusiast]

If your only complaint is size then understand that you're planting directly into a 5 gallon pot. The plant needs to establish a sufficient rootzone before it pours energy into above-ground growth. Unfortunately because that container is so huge, it is going to take that plant more time to do so than had you planted it in a smaller container and worked your way up. As such you should expect reduced above-ground growth during that time, particularly compared to anyone transplanting up.

If you're having seeds die in the germination process (before they get into your soil) then either you contaminated the process with something or you got a bad batch of seeds. If you're confident you germinated without introducing any pathogens, then bad genetics is a real possibility.

 

[Growth]

If your only complaint is size then understand that you're planting directly into a 5 gallon pot. The plant needs to establish a sufficient rootzone before it pours energy into above-ground growth. Unfortunately because that container is so huge, it is going to take that plant more time to do so than had you planted it in a smaller container and worked your way up. As such you should expect reduced above-ground growth during that time, particularly compared to anyone transplanting up.

If you're having seeds die in the germination process (before they get into your soil) then either you contaminated the process with something or you got a bad batch of seeds. If you're confident you germinated without introducing any pathogens, then bad genetics is a real possibility.

We had no clue you shouldn't use large pots. We researched and read transplanting is bad so we should use the large pot to begin with on autoflowering plants.

We had seeds die as they germinated and seeds not germinate at all.

I'm pretty confident our soil is fine, 2 seedlings are doing decently well besides how small they are for how long they've been planted.

I wish there was a flat out science to this stuff so there wasn't so much guessing and testing.

 

[budsofgeorgia]

those first to pic the plants looking burned by nutes

 

[Growth]

those first to pic the plants looking burned by nutes

We followed an exact recipe from a Youtber that had success so I'm not sure.

Does anyone know how to measure light without spending a ton on a tester? One of our biggest issues is light and what strength at what stage.

 

[EmDub]

Just from personal experience, autos are funny in the beginning. I usually only feed Tap or RO water for the first week or two, especially if I've never ran the strain to not stress them in the beginning. That's where you can "make or break" your whole grow. Autos have zero recovery time. Anything it has to recover from takes away from its life because the days are numbered from the start. Not saying you won't be able to harvest something but the numbers change dramatically. Those stems and leaves are telling me over-fertilization. Back off the nutes and just feed plain water until the second or third set of true leaves show. Then you can do nutes every other feed at half to two thirds the recommended strength. The leaves will tell you when they want more, usually a week and a half to two weeks. Remember, they are all funny.

 

[EmDub]

You can pick up a light meter from a local hardware store for $10-15 just to get a rough idea until you get something fancier. A-zon has some pretty good options on the higher end $45-100+

 

[budsofgeorgia]

We followed an exact recipe from a Youtber that had success so I'm not sure.

Does anyone know how to measure light without spending a ton on a tester? One of our biggest issues is light and what strength at what stage.

if you used bottle nutes you can burn them also if your light has a dimmer switch it should be around 50 percent , for me i find at first 30 inches ar 50 percent is where to start
these are 2 weeks from seed the pics are the 3 bigger plants

 

[Captspaulding]

those first to pic the plants looking burned by nutes

If he’s already giving nutes to those, that would not be good.

 

[budsofgeorgia]

If he’s already giving nutes to those, that would not be good.

nope not really not with liquid nutes anyway , i amened my soil with gaia green organic before i even drop the seed in the pot lol

 

[Growth]

If he’s already giving nutes to those, that would not be good.

The soil has nutes, we're using regular tap water to water them

 

[Captspaulding]

nope not really not with liquid nutes anyway , i amened my soil with gaia green organic before i even drop the seed in the pot lol

Touche

 

[budsofgeorgia]

well i was just giving my opinion

 

[Captspaulding]

well i was just giving my opinion

And ain’t no one bent about that

 

[hoobastank_enthusiast]

We had no clue you shouldn't use large pots. We researched and read transplanting is bad so we should use the large pot to begin with on autoflowering plants.

Yeah. I really dislike autos for several reasons but mostly for the misinformation surrounding them and subsequent misery that creates. The truth is that transplanting, when done correctly, does not shock the plant and in fact speeds up overall development by balancing the time spent growing root structure with the time spent growing leaf/stem structure. That balancing act between growing roots and growing leaves is what falls out of balance with such a large pot. The plants don't look unhealthy to me, they just look small. But again that's the result of going straight into that 5 gallon pot.

 

[Captspaulding]

Yeah. I really dislike autos for several reasons but mostly for the misinformation surrounding them and subsequent misery that creates. The truth is that transplanting, when done correctly, does not shock the plant and in fact speeds up overall development by balancing the time spent growing root structure with the time spent growing leaf/stem structure. That balancing act between growing roots and growing leaves is what falls out of balance with such a large pot.

Omg thank god. We need to start a movement. I’ve never understood not potting up anything let alone an auto. It’s poppycock. Potting up is GOOD. Root zones like room to breath.

 

[Captspaulding]

Yeah. I really dislike autos for several reasons but mostly for the misinformation surrounding them and subsequent misery that creates. The truth is that transplanting, when done correctly, does not shock the plant and in fact speeds up overall development by balancing the time spent growing root structure with the time spent growing leaf/stem structure. That balancing act between growing roots and growing leaves is what falls out of balance with such a large pot.

And all of the water/food washes right past the root zone, with nothing down there to eat anything, then all types of problems start in the medium, never drying out, roots not being able to penetrate the bottom of the pot. And then the inevitable nutrient uptakes issues that ensue.

 

[hoobastank_enthusiast]

Omg thank god. We need to start a movement. I’ve never understood not potting up anything let alone an auto. It’s poppycock. Potting up is GOOD. Root zones like room to breath.

I used to go straight into final containers with soil (and photos obviously) fairly often as I was more of a set-it-and-forget-it kind of grower with soil. That in truth is why I also made the exact same mistake of going straight into a large container when I first switched to coco.

And all of the water/food washes right past the root zone, with nothing down there to eat anything, then all types of problems start in the medium, never drying out, roots not being able to penetrate the bottom of the pot. And then the inevitable nutrient uptakes issues that ensue.

Yeah this is for sure one of the most common sequence of problems I see. I'm not sure why the "don't transplant autos" myth is so prevalent, nor why autos end up being portrayed as this thing for beginners. In truth it's the exact opposite; people should be learning on photos first so they have the time to correct and learn from mistakes and problems.

 

[Captspaulding]

I used to go straight into final containers with soil (and photos obviously) fairly often as I was more of a set-it-and-forget-it kind of grower with soil. That in truth is why I also made the exact same mistake of going straight into a large container when I first switched to coco.


Yeah this is for sure one of the most common sequence of problems I see. I'm not sure why the "don't transplant autos" myth is so prevalent, nor why autos end up being portrayed as this thing for beginners. In truth it's the exact opposite; people should be learning on photos first so they have the time to correct and learn from mistakes and problems.

100% all day.

 

[Captspaulding]

I used to go straight into final containers with soil (and photos obviously) fairly often as I was more of a set-it-and-forget-it kind of grower with soil. That in truth is why I also made the exact same mistake of going straight into a large container when I first switched to coco.


Yeah this is for sure one of the most common sequence of problems I see. I'm not sure why the "don't transplant autos" myth is so prevalent, nor why autos end up being portrayed as this thing for beginners. In truth it's the exact opposite; people should be learning on photos first so they have the time to correct and learn from mistakes and problems.

I truly think, that for new growers, that have beating their heads against the wall when they run into issues, that potting up is an easy target, a really simple thing to blame the struggle on, meanwhile it’s 50 other things that are really the problem. The myth needs to be crushed. The whole shocking an auto from transplant thing drives me crazy. Unless the grower separated the root ball with a cheese grater, that ain’t the issue.