First grow a disaster! (I think) Pics.

This is my first grow. Soil, 400W HPS, flora series and Dyna Grow nutes. These are auto NL from Royal Queen Seeds and they have now been growing 12 weeks (breeder said 9) and I have no idea when they will be finished. They look small and like they're each only gonna yield a couple grams to me? Whyyyy? I read and study as much as I can and I have no idea what's going on. Saw what I thought was nitrogen deficiency (the yellowing) but now after a feed it looks even worse! I feel bad always asking for help on here but anyone have any thoughts? Why is my yield so shitty and when do you think they'll be done?

Study topping in veg to create more nodes/stalks. It will make your plants bushier. YouTube has MANY videos. For the first grow it is not a disaster.

Freddie Millergogo said:

Study topping in veg to create more nodes/stalks. It will make your plants bushier. YouTube has MANY videos. For the first grow it is not a disaster.

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Ok I'll study up. One thing I learned since I started is that I think next time I won't grow autos so I can have some more control over the growth. I didn't study enough before I started and figured I would learn from my mistakes, but I didn't realize how many mistakes there are to make!

What wattage are you using? Led or Hps?

Autos are kind of weird and not a good choice for a first grow. i'd pick an old established photo strain for my first grow if i had a choice, maybe a kush variant or a northern lights pheno

asaplck said:

Ok I'll study up. One thing I learned since I started is that I think next time I won't grow autos so I can have some more control over the growth. I didn't study enough before I started and figured I would learn from my mistakes, but I didn't realize how many mistakes there are to make!

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looks to be quite the woody mix in that soil.
too much forest byproducts, jacks ph (especially with chelated nutes).
not to mention it sequesters nitrogen as well.
your problem is most likely in the soil mix.
stupid question, but did you put drainage holes in those buckets?

High asaplck

They look pretty much like they ought to at this stage. You shouldn't be feeding them any nitrogen this late in flowering either as it tends to inhibit flowering.

You can judge when they are ready to crop by getting a good look at the trichomes. If almost all the hairs are red and very few new ones are showing up with the gland heads, trichomes, gone 50/50 clear/cloudy with maybe a few gone amber she's ready to crop. A simple 10X magnifying glass is enough to get a look at the trichs tho I just take a close-up pic with my digi cam and blow the pic up on my computer to get a real good look.

I've seen plenty of disaster grows and this isn't one of them.

asaplck said:

View attachment 3791240 View attachment 3791241 View attachment 3791242 View attachment 3791243 This is my first grow. Soil, 400W HPS, flora series and Dyna Grow nutes. These are auto NL from Royal Queen Seeds and they have now been growing 12 weeks (breeder said 9) and I have no idea when they will be finished. They look small and like they're each only gonna yield a couple grams to me? Whyyyy? I read and study as much as I can and I have no idea what's going on. Saw what I thought was nitrogen deficiency (the yellowing) but now after a feed it looks even worse! I feel bad always asking for help on here but anyone have any thoughts? Why is my yield so shitty and when do you think they'll be done?

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your first grow looks a lot better than my first grow which only yielded 1/4 ounce.growing good medicine takes knowledge, skill, and experience. there is a learning curve involved and it takes time and patients.don't feel bad about asking questions.that how we learn and your first grow looks better than many others. some strains do better in a particular environment than others. I grow in the high dessert and it took a while for me to find a strain that grows well up here.if your fixture can handle it you may want to use a MH bulb. ( make sure you have a mh/hps ballast) during the first few weeks from seed to promote leaf development and reduce stretching. HPS work good for flowering but is not the best option for vegging and preflower

OldMedUser said:

High asaplck

They look pretty much like they ought to at this stage. You shouldn't be feeding them any nitrogen this late in flowering either as it tends to inhibit flowering.

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you think they SHOULD look like that??
You sure?
and you ALWAYS want to be giving your girls nitrogen, even in flower, it's by FAR the most needed macro nutrient that cannabis wants

Any ph amendments to your soil? Having low or high ph can lock out nutrients and cause it to show deficiencies.

Its not a disasterous first grow, you will have some smokeable bud, probably better than you can buy, and you now have more knowledge than when you started, work on dialing in your environement first, once thats good and stable the feeding comes easy

If you get to harvest anything.. it is better than most people's first grow.. they could be dead.. that's a disaster!!

greasemonkeymann said:

you think they SHOULD look like that??
You sure?
and you ALWAYS want to be giving your girls nitrogen, even in flower, it's by FAR the most needed macro nutrient that cannabis wants

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You should maybe refer to a grow bible or two. In late stage flowering it's just the right look to have all the older fan leaves go yellow as the plant draws on internal resources to finish itself off.

And extra N is a detriment in later flowering if you care to read up on the subject.

I've only grown a couple thousand plants since '78 so I might be wrong but I don't think so.

OldMedUser said:

You should maybe refer to a grow bible or two. In late stage flowering it's just the right look to have all the older fan leaves go yellow as the plant draws on internal resources to finish itself off.

And extra N is a detriment in later flowering if you care to read up on the subject.

I've only grown a couple thousand plants since '78 so I might be wrong but I don't think so.

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well shit, then I bow to your superior growing skills and knowledge.
You may want to make sure you got your facts straight before arguing.
You can read your "grow-bible"
i'll stick to horticulture facts, how nutrients are used, and the biochemistry involved.
Either way, if you truly think those plants are "normal"
then I have nothing more to say.

and if your plants look like that, then you have been growing poorly for damn near 40 yrs.
if you honestly think that adding nitrogen can be detrimental then that's just unfortunate.
I never said anything about adding EXTRA nitrogen.
you said to avoid nitrogen altogether, which is bad advice.

OldMedUser said:

They look pretty much like they ought to at this stage. You shouldn't be feeding them any nitrogen this late in flowering either as it tends to inhibit flowering.

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your words.

Lol

If you get anything off of your first grow your doing well, They look really really sativa to me, NL is usually indica dominate strain but you never know what phenotype your girls are going to be and they could lean either way. They still have a long time to go though, Let them finish out, study the hell out of a horticulture book and try again, There is no replacement for experience. If I had to guess , I'd say you have an issue with the ph locking out nutrients and it is suspending the progress of the plants.

Sativa dominant for sure. IME, you need to get any N issues sorted before they flower. Otherwise the yellowing can reach the top of the plant before she finishes. Once that happens, flower development will reduce drastically. Have never been able to correct severe N deficiencies during flower, especially this far in. Sativas are a different mule and probably not the best for beginners. Not your fault though mate, NL is meant to be an indica strain. Looks like your seed bank has mixed up seeds or sent you lemons.

Great first attempt though! You'll get some nice smoke at the end

dude you needed to read into topping, Lst, super cropping and the works. i get it they are auto flower but you still could have topped the things a few times. I'm gonna say what everyone else wanted to say....sad looking plants man.

It's pretty obvious that people around here don't read what the OP actually writes. Guess it's easier to jump right in and start trolling peeps that do.

The guy is growing autoflowering plants that are 3 weeks past the time they are purported to be finished. Way past their due date and need more nitrogen like a fish needs a bicycle.

A light feeding of bloom nutes is the most they need at this stage and within a week or two it'll be time to start flushing.

For a first grow those plants look damn good and the only thing sad about them is is the critical and uncaring audience they seem to have drawn.

You don't top autos a few times either if you want the best out of them. Fine with photo plants but twice is the max with autos.

Don't forget that when the plant goes into flower, it is trying to reproduce its line. It will pull nutrients from the fan leaves to bud out. This is just nature. I have never harvested a plant with pristine fan leaves.