NL auto-2nd grow attempt

new2420grow

Active Member
What light cycle are you using?
Post up!
We need pictures! :)

I am hoping to be able to compete with you, very soon... :D
I'll try to get a couple of pics up tonight after I get home. I'm running her 24/7. I was thinking about giving her a few hours of dark, but it's just been so cold lately, I haven't wanted to shut the lights off.
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Happy New Year!!!
Here's an updated picture of my little lady. I forgot to shut off the HPS before snapping it. She's swelling up pretty good, but overall, she's looking a bit rough. I'm sure the extra cold temps have stunted her and caused some issues. Plus, I'm thinking she could use a dose of cal-mag. But, she's still kicking along. I got one lower branch that broke, I've tried taping it up, but made it worse. It's only connected by a small piece of stem, but I'm letting it go. The plant is so tight and bushy, that it's hard for me to get my giant paws in amongst the main stem. My next grow, I'm definitely gonna implement at least a little LST. I'm thinking she's got 3-4 more weeks to go, maybe 5. I'm not in a rush for smoke or anything, but I still get antsy and start wishing she'd finish. Any input is welcome. Thanks for viewing and Happy New Year again!!

12.31.1145pm.jpg
 

noham

Active Member
Wanna know who just got his seeds this morning?

Yep. I did. *high five* lol

At first I didn't notice, but you should put some mylar on all side of your grow space. Even painting it white would increase you lighting's efficiency by a minimum of 30%.
Just imagine only 2/5 of those bulbs emitting light towards your plant, and then most of the 3/5 is absorbed by the brown matt surface.
Me, I'm even covering my pot with reflective material. More so it is deep black color :D

PS: I should also mention that mylar is heat reflective, so your temperature may rise a little...
 

BoogNBuds

Well-Known Member
starting to come along nicely, defo would think about getting an auto strain for my backyard cause i have a small fence haha
 

new2420grow

Active Member
starting to come along nicely, defo would think about getting an auto strain for my backyard cause i have a small fence haha
My favorite thing about the autos is not having to worry about a light schedule. I know I can use timers and what not, but not having to worry about light leaks and bad schedules causing them to hermie, just makes sense to me. I pretty much just run my lights 24/7. I know a lot of people say that if you give them at least 4 hours of dark, it'll help increase yield, and they may be right, but so far, I'm getting decent results with what I'm doing.

I'm looking at really upping the game with my next grow, bigger lights, better nutes, better reflective environment, so I may put a timer on the lights this next go around if I decide to put a photoperiod in the box too. I'm thinking when I start my next couple of auto seeds, I might put a reg seed in there and just let it veg until time to harvest the autos, then flip the reg seed. I figured 90 + days of veg would get a photo pretty fat and ready for flower. Just a thought
 

noham

Active Member
How big of a pot you are using? During the first grow, did your plants' roots use up the space?
 

InnDickUhh

Member
I'll try to get a couple of pics up tonight after I get home. I'm running her 24/7. I was thinking about giving her a few hours of dark, but it's just been so cold lately, I haven't wanted to shut the lights off.
Just wondering how much of a difference did the 150 hps make on your electricity bill? I too am thinking about stepping up my cfl game :D
 

new2420grow

Active Member
How big of a pot you are using? During the first grow, did your plants' roots use up the space?
I'm using the same pots I used the first time around, about 1 1/2 gallon. Yes, the roots used up the whole space. The only thing I did different this time around is the addition of the 150w hps and I started this lady in a solo cup. My other 2 plants from my first harvest, I started in their final pot. The only reason I started these in the solo was because I didn't have my soil mixed up when I planted and only had a little left. About 2 weeks from seed, I filled up the pot with my mix, then I made a hole in the middle and cut the solo cup down the edge and put the whole block of soil into the new mix and used my hand to gently blend it all together.

You get a lot of people who will tell you that if you're going to use a bigger pot to complete your grow in, to not start them. Now, most of these people have tons more experience than me, but their arguments for not starting in your final pot seem to be non-issues to me. The most common reasons I see are:
1: You'll overwater because you'll be watering a bigger pot. The way I water is that I only mist with a spray bottle when they are seedlings and just wet the soil right at the plant. As she gets bigger, I gradually up the water and gradually work towards spreading the water out farther in the pot.
2: The plant won't get as big, fast enough, because she'll be using all her energy to build root structure, chasing the water in that big pot of soil. To my way of thinking, my solution to #1, solves #2. Again, I might be wrong, and I've not used very big pots, yet. But my next grow, that I'm starting in a couple of weeks, I'm going to start one of my seeds in a 5 gallon bucket and see how she does.

Thanks for looking and commenting!
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Just wondering how much of a difference did the 150 hps make on your electricity bill? I too am thinking about stepping up my cfl game :D
That's a really good question. But, I don't have a good answer. The first full month of running the HPS, was my lowest light bill all year. My last light bill was only 90 bucks. My highest that I've had all year was about 200 bucks. But, I live in a very old house, without central heat and air. Plus, I live alone, so I don't have to worry about keeping it comfortable for others. Also, I'm in the south and the winter is usually less electricity intensive for most folks. Except this week. It's currently in the low 20's and is getting down to single digits on Monday. I just fired up my kerosene heater about 20 minutes ago and it's only 57 degrees in the house right now...I'm cold!

Also, since I live alone, that means there aren't very many lights on, other than in my cabinet for most of the day. Like right now, the only light on, is the light on the ceiling fan and it's got CFLs in it. Also, when people come over, they notice that I only have the light on in the one room, and they are good about shutting off the kitchen, bedroom or bathroom light when they leave the room.
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Some of hairs are starting to turn red, so I'm probably going to feed her nutes one more time with tonight's watering since I still have some left over from the last feeding, but probably won't mix anymore. I'm planning on going ahead and flushing her on the next watering, probably 3 or 4 days, gonna get let the pot dry out real good. Then I'll feed her nothing but water the last few weeks.

I don't know if it really does make a difference, but a friend of mine from cali that used to grow smoked some of my last harvest and she couldn't believe that I really used MG nutes. She said that she has always been able to taste it but she couldn't taste it in the stuff I grew. I'd have to guess it's because I flush em and feed nothing but water the last 2-3 weeks. Of course is could be because what she tried had been cured for a couple months too, or a combination. Either way, I don't want to risk changing that part and it come out a big harsh.
 

noham

Active Member
How big of a space did that first 2 plants take up?

I thought I f*ed up after letting one seed germ at nearly 40°C, and started another one. Both sprouted, and now I'm concerned by space issues I may have.
These seeds are tough!
 

InnDickUhh

Member
That's a really good question. But, I don't have a good answer. The first full month of running the HPS, was my lowest light bill all year. My last light bill was only 90 bucks. My highest that I've had all year was about 200 bucks. But, I live in a very old house, without central heat and air. Plus, I live alone, so I don't have to worry about keeping it comfortable for others. Also, I'm in the south and the winter is usually less electricity intensive for most folks. Except this week. It's currently in the low 20's and is getting down to single digits on Monday. I just fired up my kerosene heater about 20 minutes ago and it's only 57 degrees in the house right now...I'm cold!

Also, since I live alone, that means there aren't very many lights on, other than in my cabinet for most of the day. Like right now, the only light on, is the light on the ceiling fan and it's got CFLs in it. Also, when people come over, they notice that I only have the light on in the one room, and they are good about shutting off the kitchen, bedroom or bathroom light when they leave the room.
Hmm interesting.. How about your temps? I assume you know how easy cfls are with temps but did your hps make your room go up a few degrees or even more?
 

new2420grow

Active Member
How big of a space did that first 2 plants take up?

I thought I f*ed up after letting one seed germ at nearly 40°C, and started another one. Both sprouted, and now I'm concerned by space issues I may have.
These seeds are tough!
My first 2 were really bushy, They were too big to stay in the one cabinet. They both got about 30 inches tall, from the soil and about 20-22" across. I ended up separating them the last couple of weeks. But, I've seen people cram 2 plants in a 2x2 tent.

I'm about to start working on a new box this week. I'm going to build it 3'x3', 6' tall and hopefully get 4 plants in it. I'm also upgrading to a 600w HPS. I want to see if with 600w up top and supplemental side CFLs if I can pull 3 zips per plant with autos. I don't really need anywhere near that much weed, it's just starting to be a game to me. I want to see how much I can yield from autos. Apparently, according to everyone else, my first harvest was a fluke, because you're not supposed to be able to pull much more than 1 zip per plant with autos. So far, I've pulled about 2 per plant. I'm hoping the one I have going now will pull 2.5, but I'm worried the cold temps stunted her growth too much.
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Hmm interesting.. How about your temps? I assume you know how easy cfls are with temps but did your hps make your room go up a few degrees or even more?
Right now, since we've had a horrible cold snap, I'm struggling to keep the temps in the 50's. But, I'm putting a heater in front of the cabinet now. I think she's so small because of the cold temps. Cannabis is tough to begin with, and autos have the ruderalis cross in them, which makes them much more resilient to cold temps, but I have to believe they will grow better in a mid-70's to low 80's environment.
 

propain

Well-Known Member
First off awsome grow I too live alone and have found myself planting six autos for no reason its fun I have a closet that's 2x5x7 ft tall with a 600w hps and I am hoping to get at least 12o's its no fluke my friend these that I have are three weeks into flower looking like there gonna be awsome two of them are already 3ft tall and the smallest two are about about 18in they have come a very long way with autos in the last few years. Was just looking at a thread and this guy had always grown 12/12 from seed cause space issues switched to autos and said they outperformed the photoperiod plants by alot. So keep it up
 

new2420grow

Active Member
First off awsome grow I too live alone and have found myself planting six autos for no reason its fun I have a closet that's 2x5x7 ft tall with a 600w hps and I am hoping to get at least 12o's its no fluke my friend these that I have are three weeks into flower looking like there gonna be awsome two of them are already 3ft tall and the smallest two are about about 18in they have come a very long way with autos in the last few years. Was just looking at a thread and this guy had always grown 12/12 from seed cause space issues switched to autos and said they outperformed the photoperiod plants by alot. So keep it up

Thanks a lot! Don't be afraid to toss up some pics of what you got going.
 
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