Diagnostic for first grow

VatoLoco26

Member
Hello people. First of all I apologise if this is the wrong place to post or if I shouldn’t have created a thread; internet is not really my thing but I’m looking for help so sorry for my clumsiness in the field of blogs and forums.

So this is my first time grow: 2 seeds of Big Bang autoflower. I am using 600w HPS keeping it at 64cm ( 25'' ) from the plants, my pots are between 15L (4 galons) and 20L (aprox 5 gallons), and for soil I am using a mix of “Gro-Sure Seed & Cutting Compost and Wilkinson top graded soil (pictures below), temperature is around 28 - 29 Celsius (82,4 - 84,2 Fahrenheit) growing in a 80x80x180 (2.5' x 2.5' x 5.9')

The compost as far as I’ve read contains vermiculite and peat moss.

The soil description is as follows ‘’ Wilko graded top soil is a specially selected rich clay loam soil with a high humus content. The soil has a balanced, clay, silt and sand composition with plenty of organic matter. It's also lime and chalk free and perfect for adding nutrients and organic structure to enhance beds and borders. Composition: pH 5.5-7.0. No added peat.

Before planting the seeds I gave both pots a really good soaking allowing plenty to run out of the bottom, water adjusted to 6.5pH

One of the seeds has been germinated directly into the soil, the other seed was germinated using the wet napkin method.

During their first few days I kept the pots covered with cling film/plastic foil as I am still struggling to keep up the relative humidity levels (an air humidifier is on its way) in the range that seedlings love.

Now, here is where I need your big help and knowledge. At the moment, my plants are 10 days old (counting started from the moment of seed being put into soil/napkin for germination) and look like this. Is there something wrong with them? Are they too small or normal for their age? Sorry that the images are not top quality they’ve been taken with a phone camera. But you can see that the little fellow that has been germinated directly in soil has a cracked leaf and there is also some decolouration on its leaves (at least that’s how I see it) I’ve been mist spraying them sometimes and have read that water droplets left on the leaves actually amplify the effect of the light and can cause some burns especially in this fragile state.

Please help with diagnostic and advice, thank you in advance for all those taking the time to read and help with this.
2505-1.jpg 0339935_l.jpg straight in soil 1.jpg straight in soil 2.jpg wet napkin 1.jpg wet napkin 2.jpg wet napkin 3.jpg
 
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bobtokes

Well-Known Member
its not a good idea planting seeds/seedlings into their final pots as they may be burned if the compost is too strong, wilkinsons compost is crap its got alsorts of rubbish in it, your better off paying the extra for canna compost or something simlar
your plants look ok at the moment, dont over water them
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
That soil looks really dense so will be harder for roots to grow in there I'd go get some perlite and mix about 25% in some of it to repot your babies in. They are small enough to easily lift out with a soup spoon and drop into an airier soil mix. Don't try to take the dirt off the roots but just plant the seedling with it's plug of dirt right into the new blend so as not to shock it. The new roots will spread easily through the looser mix.
 

tpc_mikey

Well-Known Member
I agree with Old Med soil looks very dense and plants look a tad overwatered, i would get them transplanted into a better mix asap, 10 days from seed should look about like this218172.JPG
 

VatoLoco26

Member
Hello Old Med and Mikey, thank you very much for your answers. Old Med, I made new soil with perlite mix, hope it will do them better, when I moved them I did remove most of the dirt I could from the roots by gently rinsing with water, might not have been the smartest move however I was just too curious hahaha, guess I'm still experimenting. Mikey, wow, yours looks really nice man I can definitely see the difference between yours and mine because you have good quality picture. Guess my plants are kinda fucked :(( eh maybe they will heal up.
 

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
They should be OK but for tiny plants I don't like to disturb the roots more than needed. Once they are a bit more established I slice off the bottom of the rootball when I repot to get rid of the long, stringy roots. Makes the roots branch out more and fill the new pot top to bottom with fine feeder roots.

I found a great spot to download FREE POT BOOKS. I downloaded a grow bible first and got lots more. Books look great and complete like the real ones I have here. No web site but just a page of links. Just right click on what you want and then "Save Link As" to download so they don't open first as some are 50+ megs. They got lots. Enjoy.
 

VatoLoco26

Member
wow man (OldMed) thanks that link is just WOW haha. By the way today I received my air humidifier and now I have 2 4 inch fans blowing air in the tent and an 8 inch fan at the top sucking the air out of the tent but I'm not using that one because it's like a fuckin airplane engine hahaha. So with just the 2 4 inch fans blowing air in the tent and the air humidifier I now have about 25 26 Celsius 77 78.8 Fahrenheit and around 65 relative humidity. I think they're gonna be ok, I mean it's the first time when I finally have the optimal conditions with the tent closed.
 

tpc_mikey

Well-Known Member
Hello Old Med and Mikey, thank you very much for your answers. Old Med, I made new soil with perlite mix, hope it will do them better, when I moved them I did remove most of the dirt I could from the roots by gently rinsing with water, might not have been the smartest move however I was just too curious hahaha, guess I'm still experimenting. Mikey, wow, yours looks really nice man I can definitely see the difference between yours and mine because you have good quality picture. Guess my plants are kinda fucked :(( eh maybe they will heal up.
That was when they were babies lol, this is about 40th day of vegging
 

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VatoLoco26

Member
Guys this is finally it with my first grow. bad phone quality I know but still :D the baldie plant in the right low corner has been chopped yesterday (tuesday) and the other ones have about one or 2 weeks left to go cause i germinated them 2 weeks later than the one that's done. so now it's drying and getting ready for curing. A MASSIVE THANKS for all of you who helped me with information :D I did make mistakes (obviously), I learned from them and I am quite sure that on the next grow I will perform better. as for the plants I'm quite happy with the results so far (although I will truly be able to say that after I've weighted them :))) ) and am willing to give autoflowers another chance. the one that's been chopped (baldie one) was Big Bang auto from greenhouse seeds, the ones that ain't done yet Kalashnikova auto also from GHS. all of them grew about 43cm (17inch) tall. will probably come up with some more pictures as they get dried and cured so stay tuned ;)
 

tpc_mikey

Well-Known Member
Funny i just came back to this post since being here in march, my girl is still in flower here she is about a week left on her This is one plant in a 10gal smartpot grown organically has had nothing but water since birth (well no bottled nutes) she has has some recharge and Microbial brew but that is it, 2weeks ago she got just a very small does of tiger bloom to correct a PK deficiency. IMG_1779.JPG IMG_1780.JPG IMG_1781.JPG IMG_1782.JPG
 
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