First Grow - Blue Dream Auto - Indoor - Amended Coco

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
So, after trolling around the internet for a while, learning and reading - I've decided to do a grow.

My reasons for doing a grow have to do with my reluctance to depend on the market for what I view as medicinal supplements to my life.

My journey hasn't even come very far. Week 3 is about to start, I think. And, I want to decompress everything, so if anyone is reading this....apologies in advance for what may seem like rambling.

opened up a new home inside a 36x20x60.
passive intake, with an oscillating fan inside, LED and 4" carbon filter exhaust.

I chose blue dream autos,and to keep things at 18/6 but sometimes i just leave it on for 24 so far. Really depends on state of the plant. But I'll be honest, being my first grow, and being so early in the grow, I'm not really supposed to be asking for much.

I have two 3.5g smart pots, amended coco with perlite (wondersoil brand), RO water and AN - micro-grow-bloom, perfect ph.

After a 12 hour soak, and 36 hour paper towel in the dark germination, they cracked open and i dropped each into a half-inch/3/4 inch hole and loosely covered.
I used saran wrap over coiled wire to keep the seeds humid. maybe 2 days later...up they pop.
Conditions were about 90% humidity and air temp of 75-80 F -
I kept them covered until the first true leaves were pretty solid and the second set were sprouting.

D4526990-DDBC-4501-BC5B-58F4AC036395.JPGC5FB64D7-B134-4EBE-AAC8-871A1F33A543.JPG
One looked odd, immediately had four leaves.

I was so eager. Dirs on the nutrients spoke of seedlings and such, so i immediately started mixing things in a gallon jug. I was cautious enough to do quarter strength, and really only used a spritzer to deliver the water.

According to my calcs, that was two full weeks ago.

Here they are today.
88C891F6-335E-40E9-9B3A-0062E67BD909.JPGB572BCBC-26EE-4E3F-9CA2-F29C76F0A349.JPG

238BFFC3-611A-4439-A58E-B6BDE7319DF1.JPG60FC7184-25BB-4934-BB69-B68E382F2C15.JPG

The stems are kinda scrawny. and they topple over pretty easy. Almost destroyed one as I was fiddling with the pot. Learnt my lesson. :roll:
One of the youtubers, mr canuk, lent me the idea, just dont bother them for 3-4 weeks, just water. and I am leaning towards this idea. The coco is amended, so I am beginning to think adding Advanced Nutrients is too much for the first 3 weeks... If you've made it this far in reading, and you have some experience or source that can shed some light for me, please feel free to throw in your two cents. More, the merrier.

I think I will try LST for these plants. I saw one guy - he literally has his main stalk parallel with the floor. I want to try this at some point - just for the sheer absurdity of it.
 

plantastic

Member
Good luck

Amended coco by that youtube hack never works for beginner growers


Repot them and feed normally with 1/4 strength AE nutes daily
Agreed, best to keep things simple when you start.

It's normal for them to be scrawny and fragile to begin with, i remember watering one of my first seedlings and being surprised when it got swept away in the relative tsunami that was me pouring from a jug. You'll be surprised how quickly they thicken and strengthen in the coming weeks.

I've done lots of LSTing, it's amazing when you open up that plant structure and learn to use it for maximising of yields.

I can't remember where i found this but it's extreme LST!



In my current grow i'm going for a small SCROG and i butchered the plant once it was at the right height so that there are only 4 limbs now coming out of the trunk, it felt bad and she looked droopy for a short while afterward, but once the root and trunk system start sucking up those nutrients to deliver to far less leaf mass then the leaves grow really quickly.

If you Google LBH's famous scrog tutorial he gives a sound explanation of the LST involved.


Cheers n Beers :)
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
Good luck
Thanks, and thank you for the advice.
i think next time, i will go solo cup to 1 gal to 3, or I am looking at kratky or other hydroponics set ups....
having a hard window with autos on my first grow makes me think i want to maximize the growth in the limited time i have avail. Do you have any opinion on this?


Agreed, best to keep things simple when you start.

It's normal for them to be scrawny and fragile to begin with, i remember watering one of my first seedlings and being surprised when it got swept away in the relative tsunami that was me pouring from a jug. You'll be surprised how quickly they thicken and strengthen in the coming weeks.

I've done lots of LSTing, it's amazing when you open up that plant structure and learn to use it for maximising of yields.

I can't remember where i found this but it's extreme LST!



In my current grow i'm going for a small SCROG and i butchered the plant once it was at the right height so that there are only 4 limbs now coming out of the trunk, it felt bad and she looked droopy for a short while afterward, but once the root and trunk system start sucking up those nutrients to deliver to far less leaf mass then the leaves grow really quickly.

If you Google LBH's famous scrog tutorial he gives a sound explanation of the LST involved.


Cheers n Beers :)
Thank you for the assurance. It is indeed hard to believe those scrawny stems thicken up.
Yes to your photo. The absurdity warrants an attempt, after some experience, Thank you for the LST training source. I would love to have these two bloom into a scrog.....but i imagine i will get airy fluffy buds. Let's see!
it is kinda nuts...360 degrees of plant growing out of one single side.
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
My plants are about 4 weeks old now from sprouting.
I was told by quite a few sources that they'd grow quickly in certain stages.
Being my first grow, I am quite surprised but happy with the new experience, seeing it first hand.

2C699665-ECA1-4DB9-B883-68B7E27DACA6.JPG




C4792832-DAEE-41A4-9731-DE3418F8B2E5.JPG
61B367A9-097F-4690-8F6F-D79C3C415B57.JPG

I've started LST to get light to the lower leaves.
It looks like one is starting to suffer from nutrient deficiency? I don't think it is nute burn because I've barely been using any.
I upped the nutes in the water and it looks like it is recovering but will re-observe in 24 hours.

I will note, the smaller leaves closer to the stalk are growing bigger with the unencumbered access to light. I am reluctant to start pruning fan leaves, but did snip one. cut one, gain 3? uncertain, but we shall see the results.
 

Attachments

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
made some changes to address the edge yellowing.
reduced light from 24/0 to 18/6.
also, lowered speed of oscillating fan. - could be wind burn - since the yellowing is from the fan side, exposed to the light.

going to also let coco dry a bit more in case it is over watering.
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
just realized, i may have been under feeding. been using a gallon jug, and kept thinking it was a seedling, so i am putting 5ml of food in the jug.
rated 4ml per liter for mature plants. and a gallon has about 3.75 liters in it, so it should really be closer to 45ml. upped to 30 to see how she feels.

:shock:
 
Yo I'm still a nobody but from what I work with I wait until about 5 nodes before I even touch the plant. That makes it about 6-8ish inches tall, before I "top" it and then thin out leaves after it recovers. but I ran from seeds into clones so it may be different from autos. But still good stuff man learn all you can :eyesmoke: and grow a forest
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
just realized, i may have been under feeding. been using a gallon jug, and kept thinking it was a seedling, so i am putting 5ml of food in the jug.
rated 4ml per liter for mature plants. and a gallon has about 3.75 liters in it, so it should really be closer to 45ml. upped to 30 to see how she feels.

:shock:
The numbers you listed were quite drastic, so I had to lookup the AN nutrient feeding schedule to check what they list as correct. If you are mixing in a one gallon jug then that is equal to 3.78541 liters. Entering the 3.78541 liters as the mixing container size they suggest feeding at:

an_nute_schedule.PNG

Most people will suggest feeding at 1/2 or 1/4 strength nutrients until you learn what the plant can handle. If you were feeding at half strength in week 4 of veg then according to their schedule you should be giving 7.57 ml each of Grow, Micro, and Bloom.

I'm not sure what you were feeding 5 ml of food of, a mix of each? Just 5 ml of one? Your plants are not going to like going from 5 ml to 30 ml of nutrients. It's best to avoid large swings or changes of anything for the plants. I have no experience with AN but I'm sure there are plenty on here that could give you more info on their feeding schedule. Good luck.
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
from what I work with I wait until about 5 nodes before I even touch the plant. That makes it about 6-8ish inches tall, before I "top" it and then thin out leaves after it recovers. but I ran from seeds into clones so it may be different from autos. But still good stuff man learn all you can :eyesmoke: and grow a forest
Thanks for the advice. I admit, I have an issue.....hard to wait sometimes....hopefully, I will grow more patience as I grow that forest! Go green!
:) I would love to expand to separate veg and flower tents, lol.

The numbers you listed were quite drastic, so I had to lookup the AN nutrient feeding schedule to check what they list as correct. If you are mixing in a one gallon jug then that is equal to 3.78541 liters. Entering the 3.78541 liters as the mixing container size they suggest feeding at:

View attachment 4725464

Most people will suggest feeding at 1/2 or 1/4 strength nutrients until you learn what the plant can handle. If you were feeding at half strength in week 4 of veg then according to their schedule you should be giving 7.57 ml each of Grow, Micro, and Bloom.

I'm not sure what you were feeding 5 ml of food of, a mix of each? Just 5 ml of one? Your plants are not going to like going from 5 ml to 30 ml of nutrients. It's best to avoid large swings or changes of anything for the plants. I have no experience with AN but I'm sure there are plenty on here that could give you more info on their feeding schedule. Good luck.
Hmm. a lot of good information here, thank you so much.
I was feeding 1.5ml of each for 3.78 liters TOTAL (4.5ml) until the yellowing began. At that point, I upped it to 10ml of micro, grow, bloom each to fill the gallon - making it about 3.75ml per liter of each - close to 4ml/Liter per instructions.
do you have an opinion on b-52/voodoo? i sort of want to see how they turn out before adding more money into the mix, even if it is only $20-30. As you know, first-timer here.


--

Sincerely appreciate the observations and advice.
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
about 6 weeks in from germination.
Nothing big to note.
watered a gallon split between them. added about 10-12 ml of AN micro grow bloom ea. totalling between 30-36 ml per gallon.
did some trimming of leaves to better focus plant energy and sunlight penetration.
they seem healthy. growing quickly. recovering from each trim well.

appears to be entering flower. pistils are growing. some sites along larger stems. i trimmed the lower smaller weak bud stems.
a little bit of stem flexing to try and get them to stay spread out. will have to buy string later to tie them down for any future grows.
IMG_0221 (1).jpgIMG_0219 (1).jpgIMG_0218.jpgIMG_0217 (1).jpgIMG_0216.jpg
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
Just a photo update.
Strange thing. Both plantsare supposed to be autos but one is clearly flowering and the other has yet to both planted at the same time.

1605988493870797540466703607112.jpg16059885322503853170368038418644.jpg16059885833297975963450107729643.jpg
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
Decided, gonna keep it at 24 until harvest. Then if the other still hasn’t flowered , will just switch to 12/12. Let it veg if she don’t pop herself
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
Question
The flowers starred about a week ago
These ar auto blue dreams from hso
Will they dense up? What can be done to promote density?
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
Question
The flowers starred about a week ago
These ar auto blue dreams from hso
Will they dense up? What can be done to promote density?
Density will be dependent on the quality of light used and the strain grown. You are at the very very early stages of flower. You have months still until they finish. They will continue to change for the better as you continue to give your care and patience. Good luck.
 

OkSureWhyNot

Active Member
Both plants are continuing to grow well. About 24 inches tall. Approx same width.
My tent may be snug. 2*3*6’

one continues through flowering. Buds are gaining weight. I wiggled a stem and felt the swing. Crystals on top sets.
Kinda bushy for my liking and I want to trim, but refrained. Only took a half a handful from either plant. Just for interior lighting.

juiced the fan leaves.

getting sticky. Less pungent today.
Spots developed. Brown. I think calmag issue.
Reminder, am using AN grow micro bloom in amended coco and perlite and RO water.

have to pick up some calmag. Alternatively, since AN claims their product provides enough, I could take the time to do a flush and new load of nutrients.

opinons?
 
Top