First Grow Autos

insomnia65 said:

I'm new to all this, can you explain the double solo cup, sorry don't mean to bust ya post.

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Double solo cup is done a couple ways. Inner cup is slit up the side making it easier to remove plant/soil, outer cup holds it all together.
Or..
Inner cup has the bottom half removed so when pulled out of outer cup, the inner half cup itself gets planted in new pot.

insomnia65 said:

I'm new to all this, can you explain the double solo cup, sorry don't mean to bust ya post.

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i put one solo cup inside the other. the inside cup has the bottom cut off and a cut down the side. i thought it would make it easier to remove the cup, possibly.

wow... seedlings are super boring. everything is done. few more days of waiting. kills me. lol

Snap, I'm very much new and being impatient has screwed my plants up, gotta remember little steps.

insomnia65 said:

Snap, I'm very much new and being impatient has screwed my plants up, gotta remember little steps.

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im not impatient.... just excited, i think. lol

7 days after being sown:

i had lowered my light to within 18inches and dimmed to 50W but the temp quickly dropped to 65 and stayed there, so back to 480W and about 40 inches away. temp back to a steady 78.
theyre going to be 24/0 for their life i think.

insomnia65 said:

Read the forums use search bar, some growers say you should plant in the finished pot and not to transplant auto's, but I had to the other day due to nute burn (it was a small seedling in soil with the wrong nuted in it, so the plant I think would of died without the transplant, I think it's the shock with Autos , shock a auto plant you can stunt it and autos only have short life span, welcome.to RIU and good luck.

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You can transplant autos successfully if the roots aren't damaged too bad, you just have to be careful...

Transplanting rootbound autos. The second photo I pulled the rootbound part of the roots away before transplanting. People act like autos are super fragile. If you have healthy plants they'll be fine.

I plant the seeds in these, photos and autos.


I give them a few days in a heated propagator on the shelf in my conservatory. Once they are showing their first true leaves they go in a big pot under the lights, still in the bags. I always put a teaspoon of Mycorrhizal granules under where I plant the seed so the root hits it straight away. They say that the roots can break through the bag, but I don't trust that so I put a few small slits in the bag before I bury it. The new root never gets disturbed. I have done two runs of auto seeds in these and it has worked well.

here they are at 10 days from sprouting. hopefully they take off soon. transplanting tomorrow or Friday when i get the time, i think.

Nice grow going. My first grows ever were autos...over 15 yrs ago. Ain't missed a beat since even through moves. Autos should be called timex...takes a beating and keeps on ticking. Tough little suckers but they have their limits.
Nice setup...a heat mat would solve root zone temps in germ. Your double cups will make trans easier and safer...that's my method 100% of the time. A caution I'll share is while happy frog got you to this point, why not use it as final since you've obviously got watering down well. FFOF can be a bit hot for autos and may give ya a fit when happy frog roots hit the new shit. I usually trans at 1 week. Seldom have a stunt.
No input on pot size as I've never grown in anything bigger than 1 gal....ease of handling is a biggie when you been doing it perpetually for 15 yrs. Also much much easier to water properly.
Let me add...while I germ everything on 24/0 under T5HO for 3 weeks, all are moved to a flower area on 12/12.....autos stay on their genetic schedule regardless and I can grow a photo anytime I wish which I do often.
You'll find autos need less nutes than photos...aamof, a lot less. Auto genetics do not allow for much recovery time so pushing the rope will get you a tangle.

Good day Oldie. thanks for your input.
Im glad to hear a lot of others cut their solo cups too.
ive got 1 bag happy frog left, so im using for seedlings and then to mix with ocean forest in final pot.

I've been growing autos only for almost 3 years now.

I've tried both methods, planting a germinated seed into it's final home and also starting it in a solo cup. I think the biggest key if you choose to transplant, moisten the soil before you try to remove it from the cup. Hole at the bottom, slit down the side, it doesn't matter if the dirt is dry when you try to separate it from the cup.

I use 3 gallon pots and will soak the dirt in that pot, plus the dirt in the solo cop before transplanting. Then I can usually go about 7-10 days before even thinking about watering.

Since I only grow in small 2-3 ltr pots, sometimes I just germ straight to pot...the double solo cup method is most useful when transplanting to air pots as it acts as a funnel to minimize tunneling when feeding.

Oldreefer said:

Since I only grow in small 2-3 ltr pots, sometimes I just germ straight to pot...the double solo cup method is most useful when transplanting to air pots as it acts as a funnel to minimize tunneling when feeding.

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do you mean that some people leave the 2nd solo cup attached when transplanting?

LordEnki said:

do you mean that some people leave the 2nd solo cup attached when transplanting?

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Of course not.....

my bad... was confused

Some people plant Auto-flower seeds in the final pot instead of transplanting like this because you have no control over when the plant starts flowering. Therefore, they argue planting in the final pot gives the plant the best possible chance for getting the most vegetative growth. From my experience, there is no downside, so long as I keep myself from giving the plant more water than I should.

maybe ill try directly into 5 gal with one on next run.