From my experience autoflowers dont need much water or much feed for the first 3 weeks, and also letting your coco dry out helps the roots to grow and search for water. The tap root is like a depth plunger, it will travel down deep under the soil and once it cant go any thurther it will then start to spread outwards and create its network, the length of the tap root will determine the overall size of the final plant. That is why when you had problems with your roots getting out of your starting plug on the NL its size has stunted and there is no way of it getting bigger, compare its leaf size to your other plants and you will see the difference. Any new leafs that will now grow will not grow any larger than what it already has.
Hey Skorchem, thanks for the great advice....so the NL has no chance basically? I thought so myself....the other 2 are starting to flower up and the NL is just pathetic in comparison haha....although i think ill carry on growing it, deprive it of nutes, give it some nute burn as well and experiment with her....also as an example for people to see how NOT to grow the herb lol. plus i seem to have misplaced my T splitter for the autopots so i have to have all 3 hooked up...unless you think i could block one hole of the X splitter with something? i thought maybe the roots of the NL would develop more once they were freed up but it has been some time now. still new growth happening, the leaves coming out are now 5 fingered, while the roots were trapped only 3 fingered leaves were coming out, so 5 fingered now and bigger (not by much) than the earlier leaves, i think it HAD a chance but i was too late identifying the issue with her. initially i thought diff strains, growing at diff rates but with the development of the other 2 it got to a point where i had to figure out what was really going on.
Another quick tip for quick maximum growth: I also use autopots and I have found that if you pearce your jiffy pellets with a thin screwdriver or sowing needle several times and then when your seedling has rooted through, soak it in water then bury it in your coco about an inch bellow the surface and then hook your res up, the water will wick up into the coco and the tap root will reach the bottom of the pot in a week and i guantee your plants will grow very fast after this. from this point you wont need to water from the top anymore. but it is also benificial to put an inch layer of clay pebbles ontop of your coco to help the roots stay below the surface and to detract bugs on the surface
great i have been trying to figure out the best way to use the autopots.....i also found some advice elsewhere with this pic:
suggesting instead of having to transplant at all, use a party cup with the bottom cut out, water in the cup for first weeks and then water rest of pot (use res?) do you think this would work? is there any real benefit to using the jiffy pellets? or does the mesh actually slow the roots initial growth down? will definitely add pebbles to the top of mix next grow too. i think ill actually mix more pebbles throughout the mix too rather than just at top and bottom. 80/20 coco to pebbles perhaps?
So i had the res with 5 L of nute mix, it took a good few days for them to drink that up. the aqua valves didnt look like they were actually letting the pots dry before releasing more water, from what i could see they were just filling to the level and maintaining the water level in the pots. So when flushing i gave the pots and stuff a good clean, checked out the autopot website and reset the aqua valves. I had done this initially but maybe the silicones had become displaces. Will see what happens when i hook the res up next.....hopefully it will work as is meant to if not il just leave it to do its thing and watch out for any issues that come up...
Night time temps outdoor are still going below 10C, but that looks to change next week. so i took the opportunity, before putting them out, to give them a flush to sort any build up of salts. Flushed with some runoff and half strength Hesi coco, then let them dry out a little. White Dwarf is showing more brown spots, i can only assume its a P/K deficiency so yesterday I flushed again, with 3/4 strength of Hesi COCO and PK13/14, and a bit of powerzyme and a drop of supervit. The White Dwarf has actually grown a bit taller than the Biodiesel now. The WD seems to need more nutes in general, should i ever give more than the recommended dose? The Biodiesel on the other hand seems to be fine with the nute level at full strength, and hasnt suffered at all with the flushing with weaker mixes.
I also need to repaint most parts of the balcony before they go out. I have been putting them out most days, they are harding off nicely, stems are much thicker and they dont flop about so much in the wind anymore.
Pics taken 23/5/13 (6 weeks/42 days from sprouting):
left to right WD, NL, BD
you can see the NL has grown a bit since the roots were freed but yeah...havent seen a hint of bud growing so i dont think ill be getting anything off her. still a bit pale too.
Pic taken 24/5/13 43 days from sprouting (what is FROM SEED exactly? from the moment you start to soak the seed or what?)
Left to right, NL, BD, WD
Pics taken today, 28/5/13 47 days from sprout.
WD left, BD right
White Dwarf
Biodiesel Mass
Most other journals have a lot more bud by now, not sure if this is normal rate, they seem ok, buds are growing just not particularly fast. this is why i will switch to hesi coco earlier next time and start the pk supplements sooner. plus hopefully with all the advice from you guys ill be able to get them off to a much better start next round and this will all result in bigger plants and yield. they are 45 - 50cm ish now. They probably both have another 4 weeks or so left roughly coincides with the breeders harvest times, which means in 2 weeks or so ill start germing the next batch. Ive decided to germinate the same strains as this time and Automazars as my 3rd grow rather than 2nd. I have read countless journals of automazar taking longer to finish than expected. If i do them in the middle of the summer, it may not leave me with enough time to get a 3rd grow in. so Ill be seeing the NL in full growth sooner than expected!
From these pics does it look like any of them need trimming? mainly cos there are some really pathetic little bud sites lower down on both plants that down look like they are going to amount to much....wonder if its better to trim these little ones off?? but ive also read NOT to trim autos.....so im a bit confused about this....to trim or not to trim lol. im so tempted. how about for airflow?
So far I like the way the WD and BD are growing. The Biodiesel seems to be good with varied nutrient strengths, and the White Dwarf appears to be much more sensitive in that respect. The White Dwarf grows more consistently, ie its more symmetrical than the BD in terms of bud sites and secondary cola / internode growths. and the fact that once it reached 5 fingers, the WD kept growing 5 fingered leaves....The BD went to 5 fingers then grew a set of mutant 4 fingered leaves, now top leaves are growing out with 3 fingers. Bd also has had occasions of twisted leaf growth, usually sorts itself out eventually though. Another note is the trichs were appearing on the BD ages ago, they are only just really getting going on the WD. The BD has fatter bits of bud growing, the WD has more vertical bud growth happening. very interesting to compare the 2. Ill let you know which smokes better in a around a month and a half hahaha!
if anyone has any tips or comments or answers to any of my questions id love to hear them! So far im just glad i havent fucked them all up hehe....first grow, i think its going ok and cant wait to get the 2nd one growing, better weather, more experience will surely equal better buds!
Peace
hoping to screw up less n less each time....
