Nute burn...with no nutes..or what

Bullmark said:

Thanks for the feedback. Since I’m using 100% FFOF could I use the ppm readings as an indicator of when the amendments are being depleted and a guide to when I should start adding nutes?
Also, what do you mean by 5-10% in your watering suggestion??
Honestly, the plants look relatively healthy. The biggest issue that I see is the slow growth and the fact that they are so short and bushy. I have a feeling that I’ve yet to find the sweet spot with my light’s intensity level and distance from the plants. I started out with the light cranked to 100% and 22” from the tops. I’ve since moved them to around 30” and lowered the intensity to roughly 80%.
I see so many autos being grown that look just like mine....decent looking plants overall but 5 or 6 inches tall after 4-5 weeks.
I would love to hear what everyone thinks.

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The root ball is where it is at. Especially with autos that have limited veg time, watering correctly (wet/dry) will go the furthest to getting large plants. Once the root ball is big enough, growth will go much faster. It needs to establish itself then it flourishes.

ComfortCreator said:

The root ball is where it is at. Especially with autos that have limited veg time, watering correctly (wet/dry) will go the furthest to getting large plants. Once the root ball is big enough, growth will go much faster. It needs to establish itself then it flourishes.

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So what’s the best routine or technique for establishing a killer root ball?? And how long before it reaches that point?? My plants are 27days old since sprouting.
From my perspective, the FFOF drains well and does a decent job of holding moisture. The top surface obviously dries out quickly, but an inch or two below seems to stay fairly moist for 4-5 days....this is after watering until a fair amount of runoff.....maybe 10% of what was applied.
I would love to have more confidence in my watering practices.....and have the biggest best root ball on the block...lol
Do u apply more water to a specific zone? Or keep it even? I’m only in 3 gal fabric pots so there isn’t a huge Amt of space between the sides and dead center, at the plant base.
Thanks so much for helping me out. Maybe I can return the favor one day.

5-10% as said in post #11

Bullmark said:

So what’s the best routine or technique for establishing a killer root ball?? And how long before it reaches that point?? My plants are 27days old since sprouting.
From my perspective, the FFOF drains well and does a decent job of holding moisture. The top surface obviously dries out quickly, but an inch or two below seems to stay fairly moist for 4-5 days....this is after watering until a fair amount of runoff.....maybe 10% of what was applied.
I would love to have more confidence in my watering practices.....and have the biggest best root ball on the block...lol
Do u apply more water to a specific zone? Or keep it even? I’m only in 3 gal fabric pots so there isn’t a huge Amt of space between the sides and dead center, at the plant base.
Thanks so much for helping me out. Maybe I can return the favor one day.

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Keep it even. Don't water to runoff unless you're using bottled nutes.

myke said:

5-10% as said in post #11

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Do u mean 5-10% of your container size in water? As in, if u have a 10gal pot, you’d give .5 to 1.0 gal of water??

Bullmark said:

No I’m using distilled water. I was just saying that my tap water was 8.3.
I think I may get some cal/mag and add a tiny bit to the next watering....do u think it’s a good idea? And would 1/4 or 1/8 of a suggested ratio be a good conservative start?

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It looks good to me bro, did you checked the height of your light? maby it's to intense?

Bullmark said:

Do u mean 5-10% of your container size in water? As in, if u have a 10gal pot, you’d give .5 to 1.0 gal of water??

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So, for example, if you have 10 gallons of SOIL, you want to use a half gallon to one gallon of WATER. Which is 5-10%. Container size only matters if it's full of soil.

Bullmark said:

Hello, I’m trying a couple of autos under a HLG 320. FFOF only, started in cups and moved to 3gal fabrics. I was running the light at full power and 22”. The growth was slow and I was advised to raise the light and lower the intensity, which I did. The plants seemed to like it....and there were no real issues, other than very short bushy plants. But recently I spotted bright yellow tips on one leaf and few others look to be trending in that direction.
I don’t see any pests and it doesn’t make sense for light burn after raising the height and lowering the intensity.
Could it be nute burn, although I’ve only given distilled water?? Maybe the roots are just finding the newer soil and it’s too hot??
What should i do??
And how will I know when the soil has used all of its existing nutes??
thanks for the help...I need all I can get.View attachment 5024990

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Whats your temps? Ffof is hot right.... so its probably just getting used to that

oill said:

Whats your temps? Ffof is hot right.... so its probably just getting used to that

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Yes I’ve heard that ffof is sometimes hot....I transplanted from solo cups to the 3 gal pots after 2 Weeks. Up until recently I was running my light (a HLG 320 XL) on full power and I think it may have stunted them and kept them squatty and bushy. I was told by an HLG rep to raise the height to 30” and turn the intensity down from 100% to around 70%. I followed his advice and they seemed to pick up a little....but they also have a few yellow tips.
I’m also seeing some flowering activity.....little white hairs showing all over the place. I hope they will stretch and get some length to them as they bud.

What is the ph of your medium, always test runoff/medium ph and ppm/ec first when having a root zone issue

if ph of the medium is not good, nothing will be good

Bullmark said:

I tested my tap water and it’s ph was 8.3....
Should I introduce some cal/mag ?

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IMO doesnt matter what ph ur tap water is. just use ph-
IF the water has crazy high EC then it might be unusable. I dont know what is the limit, but if you use 0ec water you should be adding some cal mag to it

dizzyground said:

IMO doesnt matter what ph ur tap water is. just use ph-
IF the water has crazy high EC then it might be unusable. I dont know what is the limit, but if you use 0ec water you should be adding some cal mag to it

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My tap consistently reads 8.2-8.3, and the ppm is either 130’s or 180’ depending on which scale is used.
I watered yesterday and used my tap for the first time.....previously it was only distilled water. I did let it sit for 24 hours first.
First impression seems positive....the plants looked happy and the tap water was well received.
The first two weeks of my grow I thought my plants were stunting or lacking something b/c they just weren’t growing fast enough. But I’ve come to realize that many auto grower’s plants look exactly like mine. And with many autos a short bushier plant is the norm.
Also, just because the plant is only 12-13” tall when it first starts to flower, it could end up twice that height after flowering a while.
Lastly, I am like so many others who have a hard time leaving their plants alone and allowing things to happen naturally. I’m gonna do my best to change and not be such “helicopter grower” hovering over them, looking for reasons to fix what may not be broken.

Well the original question was why are they small.

They could be small because of genetics. Some strains grow short regardless of how hard you try to make them tall.

Beyond genetics, it is on the grower to maximize growth. Looking at the only pic in post #1, you have no obvious issues with nutrients, watering or lighting. It is growing fine imo.

The issue then is how/why they grew like this vs bigger.

It is not the amount of nutrients. They are well fed. Your water input is/was also fine looking at your picture.

If this were a photo plant, it would grow until you flip it...meaning you would be able to veg it longer until it is the size you want, then flip. That alone is one of the main reasons many of us avoid autos. Genetic quality tends to be the other (the auto genetics tend to dilute the more potent photo genetics, but more and less depending upon the particular cultivar and source).

So what could you do in the limited time to improve growth? I just finished some autos myself this past Summer, that's why I took the time to comment again.

The time is limited, you have 2 to 4 weeks to veg the plant and then it stretches and starts throwing pistils and stops stretching and goes full flower.

In soil, you just have to get the wet dry cycle and environment optimized - ideal temps, rh, airflow, light and then water it properly and only as much as needed...dry out fully, repeat.

Another way to have bigger plants is to grow autos hydro, such as in coco. They grow faster this way, and so with limited time is the preferred choice.

Lastly, you can give them 24 hours of light through veg to max out the growth, and switch to say 20 4 or 18 6 only in flower. More light time = more growth. It is limited when we grow photos because of their genetic requirement for 11+ hours of darkness. Autos allow for more lighting time.

You did fine. You can do better next time. Your attitude about it imo is great. Hang in there and let them finish in their own time.

Bullmark said:

My tap consistently reads 8.2-8.3, and the ppm is either 130’s or 180’ depending on which scale is used.
I watered yesterday and used my tap for the first time.....previously it was only distilled water. I did let it sit for 24 hours first.
First impression seems positive....the plants looked happy and the tap water was well received.
The first two weeks of my grow I thought my plants were stunting or lacking something b/c they just weren’t growing fast enough. But I’ve come to realize that many auto grower’s plants look exactly like mine. And with many autos a short bushier plant is the norm.
Also, just because the plant is only 12-13” tall when it first starts to flower, it could end up twice that height after flowering a while.
Lastly, I am like so many others who have a hard time leaving their plants alone and allowing things to happen naturally. I’m gonna do my best to change and not be such “helicopter grower” hovering over them, looking for reasons to fix what may not be broken.

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I think 130 ppm or 180 ppm on 500 scale are both good. I am lucky with 70ppm water but I need to add cal mag. My tap water also 8.3ph btw.