First grow in soil @ 2 weeks - one plant hates me and the other ain't that mad

Apologies for the pics under artificial light. There's no sun today.

Two plants, both autos, about two weeks in. They're growing in Nectar #4 amended soil pH'd at 6.4. both planted directly in their final pots at the same time, 5 gallon cloth. The bigger one is only three days ahead from sprouting.

The smaller one has always been a runt, with less color to it. At day 12 it's really stalled out. The larger one is at day 15 and wider than a lighter, still not where I want it to be. It seems to have slowed a bit but it's not a crisis.

Environmental details:

- they've been run 24/7 under a Hydrofarm florescent seedling and veg grow light. I switched them to an HID MH bulb setup yesterday with the ballast dimmed to 150 and am tapering down to 20/4. These plants are out in the open and also get sunlight from a southwest window.

- temps have been normal, usually in the mid seventies to mid eighties.

- Rh is low. It hasn't gotten above 30. Yesterday, after switching lights, Rh ranged from 23 to 17. Diy solutions like wet towels and putting saucers of water on the radiator haven't been able to lift it since plants are in a large open room. I'm going out to buy a humidifier today.

- pH'd water from the city tap. I let it sit for about a day to let chlorine dissipate but didn't do this the first half week. Plants didn't seem to mind.

-no nutes at all

I've clearly screwed up in some way. That little runt isn't standing a chance right now. Poor thing.

So here are my theories.

1. Rh, one plant is just more tolerant.
2. Soil was too hot for seedlings and/or the tiny one hit a hot spot in the soil. Not sure how I can fix that now.
3. An x factor with my water or the stew pot I let water sit in to allow chlorine evaporation. Yesterday I noticed buildup in the water pot, pic attached. I dumped the water and switched my bucket to an industrial five gallon hard plastic.

What happened here and how fixable is it, especially as they're heading into their last week before the beginning of flower? [EDIT: my auto flowering expectation was way off]

Last week of veg before flower??

Arnski5000 said:

Last week of veg before flower??

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Could be wrong, of course.

They're autos. I see the beginnings of pistil development in the larger plant. That variety is projected to take 70-75 days (though that's probably a target for breeders and sophisticated growers).

The end of week three seems a common end to veg for faster autos, I thought? Admittedly I'm going by memories of impressions of grow journals I've read.

Well i ain't never done autos but I would of thought it will flower once its developed enough nodes kind of thing. Guess I should read up myself on them a bit. Look very young to be flowering

And I don't think they're pistils your seeing. I think you should read and read all about what your doing and trying to achieve. People will gladly help when you need it but I feel you would answer most your lessons in an hour of reading need old posts on here. Good luck tho and happy growing

Pistils ? In this photo? Did I read wrong?

You are dealing with a very small population of plants.
I am not a soil grower but follow along about nectar frequently.
I'd get that humidity up the best you can and just make sure they aren't being over watered.
Give them a week and maybe hit them with a light veg feed and see if they jump

@CraigMk thanks and you're right. I searched around and those are not the primitive beginnings of pistils.

I still feel that the smaller one has to be significantly behind where it should be at 12 days. Here's a blip blip from the breeder description (and I expect it to take significantly longer and yield less for me, but it's not even at two inches and a distinguishable first node):

"Bruce Banner #3 Auto can be ready to harvest in between 65 and 70 days from seed. When grown indoors a height of between 80cm and 100cm is expected with yields of 500 gr m2, whilst 100 gr per plant is an attainable harvest when grown outdoor."

Source: https://www.originalseedsstore.com/original-sensible-seeds-bruce-banner-3-auto~20662

OneHitDone said:

You are dealing with a very small population of plants.
I am not a soil grower but follow along about nectar frequently.
I'd get that humidity up the best you can and just make sure they aren't being over watered.
Give them a week and maybe hit them with a light veg feed and see if they jump

Click to expand...

Thanks!

Autos are plant and play type plants ... if your soil choice is ammended, autos will thrive on just that for weeks. Auto grows are OFTEN overthought when it comes to growth. They will grow on their own schedule, so a slightly behind plant can be just fine.

Just keep the light cycle STATIC- do not change schedules they do not need it. Keep 24/7 or 20/4 from start to finish. Autos need approximately 5 weeks from germination to build its root ball BEFORE it transitions to sex and preflower. If you goof up on the first weeks it will impact final plant since autos do not have time to recover from stressors. Just water as needed ( not overwatering) and let it set up on its own before feeding it.

Also , disregard breeder harvest estimates ... they are only a guide. Autos often produce better running as long as they need in spite what is estimated.

Humidity needs be between 50 and 70 right now and temps need be 20 to 25. As said before do not over water. More light

You look to be suffering from first grow flapping! Don’t worry, we’ve all done it.

I’m not a great grower by a long shot, but if i had your plants I wouldn’t be worried how they look. Remember that while the ‘runt’ is small above the soil, she may well be using all her energy creating a decent root system below ground. Give her a few days and she might suddenly explode with growth above ground.

And don’t fixate on breeders descriptions, usually add a couple of weeks to their ‘ready’ times.

Have a look at some of the pics on The Vault comparative grow you have posted on recently, you will see some of the growers on there are only a couple of weeks in (me included) and they aren’t much different to your plants. Mine didn’t get a second set if true leaves until about day 10 or so, so both of yours are further along than mine was at the same time, but mine is growing new growth like crazy now.

I normally expect my autos to start stretching about week 4-5 then they start to transition to flower, so you have a few weeks to go yet.

Don’t panic, you are doing fine. After a couple of grows you will wonder why you panicked the first time round.

Good luck!

Thanks, everyone. I'd certainly rather be worried over nothing. There's are some small ones in the comparative grow but they still look a hell of a lot bigger than mine!

I'm letting the soil dry out well between waterings. My moisture meter really doesn't work well for the soil I'm in - it still reads in the red zone even when it's freshly watered - so I'm going by finger in the soil edge.

The humidity's getting fixed today, hopefully, after I put a room humidifier in.

If these are flowering at five weeks, it does look like I have some time.

Arnski5000 said:

Humidity needs be between 50 and 70 right now and temps need be 20 to 25. As said before do not over water. More light

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Then temps are in range, but why more light? It's under a MH bulb at the "sunlight" distance recommended on the growweedeasy site.

Catpotwoman said:

Then temps are in range, but why more light? It's under a MH bulb at the "sunlight" distance recommended on the growweedeasy site.

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Yeah sorry didn't read your description properly until after I said. You seem all good to go. Fingers crossed man

As an update: I spent some time getting my humidity up with a cool mist room humidifier, which sometimes requires shooting vapor directly at the plant when it's dry. I can sometimes reach the mid sixties and it never drops below forty.

I should have bitten the bullet earlier and bought the humidifier instead of trying to dick around with wet towels and saucers on the radiator. The improved texture and appearance in the leaves was evident within the first couple of days.

The bigger plant continues to shoot up and the smaller plant is still under two inches. As an experiment, I'm going to cut the Nectar with some old used potting soil, throw it in a pot with a promo seed, and see whether less is more.

Thanks again to all for weighing in and all your advice.

Catpotwoman said:

As an update: I spent some time getting my humidity up with a cool mist room humidifier, which sometimes requires shooting vapor directly at the plant when it's dry. I can sometimes reach the mid sixties and it never drops below forty.

I should have bitten the bullet earlier and bought the humidifier instead of trying to dick around with wet towels and saucers on the radiator. The improved texture and appearance in the leaves was evident within the first couple of days.

The bigger plant continues to shoot up and the smaller plant is still under two inches. As an experiment, I'm going to cut the Nectar with some old used potting soil, throw it in a pot with a promo seed, and see whether less is more.

Thanks again to all for weighing in and all your advice.

Click to expand...

Keep an update on how the new seed does with the more mellow soil. I recently burned a little one with growing medium I think, It seems stunted. It’s definitely a “runt” now

As an update: I started a promo seed and a comparative grow seed at the same time. The comparative grow seed was planted in the Nectar soil cut with 1/3 perlite in case drainage was the issue. The promo seed was in a mix of Nectar and old dead regular potting soil, again with the 1/3 perlite added. Both pots had a layer of coir on top as a neutral seed starting medium.

The promo seed in shitty soil emerged a few days after the comparative grow seed. It's already forging ahead, looks green and even-toned, and showing a second set of leaves, whereas the nicer comparative grow seed in the Nectar/perlite has what appear to be burned edges and is lagging behind. I saw the same edges on the runt above the first weeks, but wasn't sure whether it was a humidity issue.

Nectar 4 needs cutting, is my verdict so far.