Hey Ho! Let's Grow!'s First Indoor Grow Journal. (Auto Flowers)

[heyholetsgrow]

Greetings to everyone in the GWE! Im a new member around here and I live somewhere around South America. I would like to share my first grow with an indoor system and if possible make it an enjoyable and learning content for me and for everyone here, so I appreciate every opinion.

I bought a brand new grow tent which measures 0,60m x 0,60m x 1,80m.

Its a small tent I know but I got a really good price on it and I thought maybe I could optimize better my light output due to lower spread.

Im going to list down below my current setup and what I need to buy.

GROW TENT:

GREEN HOUSE PRO OXFORD DIAMOND MYLAR 1610D (0,60m x 0,60m x 1,80m)

LIGHT:

250w MH for vegetative
250w HPS for flowering
Which are both powered by a magnetic ballast of 250w

POT SIZE:

9 liters (2.3 gallons)

SOIL:

Its a pre made mix I bought at the grow store, it has perlite, canadian peat and its very airy, soft and light

NUTRIENTS:

BioBizz Fish Mix
BioBizz Bloom

STRAINS:

x1 Chronic Auto (got it from an IG sale that a friend recommended and it came without any breeder's package so I cant be 100% sure if its truly what they said it is)
x1 Cinderella 99 Auto (same seller from the Chronic Auto and no breeder mentioned)

I need to install the air circulation system and the carbon filter whenever possible, I couldnt buy all the equipment at the same time.

Im keeping the tent a little bit open inside a room only for it, which I will have a fan working on it while I dont have the rest of the stuff.
Also need to buy a termometer with humidity indicator as well.

The seeds were germinated on paper towel method in the same tupperware and the Chronic sprout within 24 hour but the Cindy unfortunately after 48 hours still didnt show any tap root.

I planted the chronic on the 9L pot and it has sprouted and being kept under the 250w MH for around 50cm away from the lamp or more, I gotta check..

I will post pictures later!

Thanks all

[heyholetsgrow]

Hello everyone, Im back with some pictures.

I believe Im currently facing some very slow growth rate on my Chronic Auto seedling. I germinated it with paper towel and it showed its taproot within 24 hours which I believe its a healthy seed.
Since the moment I planted it on the pot Im having this problem of super slow growth, the cotyledons barely grew and the true pair of leaves are so tiny and doesnt grow... my soil is basically a mix made of peat, perlite and I added like 20% or less of worm cast on the mix.

I dont believe its supposed to be that slow under a 250w MH. I've seen and grown before in worse conditions and had way faster growth...
Since Im not very experienced and first time growing indoor Im not sure what could be causing this slow rate...

After planting the seed in the pot I watered all the pot soil with tap water in a way all the soil would get moist but not damp, because seedlings wont thrive in a dry soil, but dont want it clogged and damp with water.

A day or 2 after I touched the soil a bit and it was dry and I decided to water some more... I gave it around 600ml of water, just to avoid the soil of drying and the seedling dont die.

Im kinda lost now, I started reading around about slow growth rates and I came down with some alternatives...


PROBLEM:

Very slow growth rate.


POSSIBLE CAUSES:

1- Overwatered;
2- pH of tap water is too bad; (cant measure)
3- Temperature too hot? I dont really think this is the problem, although Im open to reconsider this;
4- Bad genetics? Bad seed? Not sure since it germinated very fast and healthy;
5- Worm casting on the mix? If that is a problem how big is that problem?;
6- Too big pot for seedling? I wanted to start in a smaller one and transplant but a friend which grows automatics said its better to start on the permanent pot;


NEXT MOVES:

Even not knowing what is the real problem Im making a move on some of the alternatives so:

If its overwatering I stopped completely to water the pot (which I made twice).
Im going to buy mineral bottle water with pH around 6-7 and only use it (closer to 6.3-6.5 as possible).
Im keeping a fan working on and allowing more fresh air for the indoor garden also decreasing temperatures.


Like I said I brought some pics!
Check them down below.

https://ibb.co/P55gVxp (Seedling)
https://ibb.co/0ZcD119 (Grow Tent)

Btw, Im having difficulties to post the pictures straight here in the topic so my best was to leave these links... Need advice on that too rofl
Thanks everyone!

[Canuck147]

Welcome to this forum heyholetsgrow - I'll tell you why your seedling is slow - but first - you need to ph your water. Needs to be around 6.0. Somewhere near South America there must be a place that services swimming pools - go and buy some litmus paper - then you can ph your water.

Your plant is not growing slow - your plant is growing normally. Autoflowers that I grow always start out teeny weeny - cuz they are growing their roots. About 10 - 14 days later - after their roots have figured out how big their home is - then they grow up.

Don't overwater - worm castings are probably fine - I would leave them.

Your patience will pay off in the long run.
Good luck growing.

[Canuck147]

Leave them in the pot.

[JohnEmad]

Welcome to GWE forum. About that seed not germinating in 48 hrs. I have had some take 12 days to sprout but leaving it 7 days is not a bad thing. Some just take longer. GL on the grow. subbed to follow.

[heyholetsgrow]

Thanks JohnEmad !

Yeah about the seed germination, you said something that I didnt know but I will keep in mind forever on every grows...

Give the seeds time! We have the image that the fast germinating ones are how they are always supposed to be but some might take a lot longer like you said (12 days)

Next seeds I will give them all the time they need... I have this new Gelat.OG Auto which I hope it germinates but if it takes too long I will wait more.

Thanks for leaving your comment, hope to have you around here!

[Daskahn]

Well I always love to learn and pass on knowledge so imma follow along and chim in when I can Canuck has so far answered best though so I have nothing right now

[heyholetsgrow]

Great to have you around Daskahn! Any comments will be highly appreciated. Thanks!

[Daskahn]

I think your tent would be great for a quadlined plant or two.. specially if you grow autos or just keep them a manageable size and you said South America.. well depending on if your in the southern portion or northern would determine your preferred strain.. also heating or cooling requirements lol

[heyholetsgrow]

I knew about mainlining but not about quadlining... that seems very interesting, I just looked a little bit about it, but I still gotta study about it with more depth.

https://forum.growweedeasy.com/forum/growing-community/287356-quadlining

Yeah I will be taking care of the equipment needed as faster I can.

[heyholetsgrow]

Hey everyone, Im back with more news.

I bought a bottle of 5L of mineral bottled water for a good price and the water pH is 6,35 according to the bottle label, which I believe its a good pH right? Since I cant pH and test the water myself at the moment I decided I could use good mineral bottle water.

https://ibb.co/TDQmjhN (Water bottle label with some info about it)


Well, there is more... I just noticed that the drainage holes on my pots are very inefficient and certainly would cause worse problems later, so I dediced to make the holes on it myself while the plant didnt develop any big roots yet. The problem was that I already had the seedling planted and sprouted on the pot... then I gently removed a part of the soil around the sprout apart from the rest of the pot mix. Holding it and tried my best to not hurt any root that could have around it and placed it over the same peat mix without cracking the "seedling land structure" meanwhile I worked on the pot drainage holes, I made holes beneath everywhere the water tended to accumulate and also some holes on the sides for some extra air and drainage. I removed all the soil from the pot and put it inside a separate box and I will let it air out and dry.

After making all the holes and making the pot drainage much better I decided to use a new soil for it (same mix but without worm casting added, I wanted to try out a new fresh soil with correct pH water and not overwatered one I guess...) so I planted that little piece of soil holding the seedling into the new pot with holes and new soil...

My next doubt was how much water should I give since the new soil is completely dry, the pot is big and the seedling is small... decided to slowly water 500ml of only 6.35 pH mineral water a bit on top of the seedling and around the whole pot...

I know this all sounded wrong and stressing to the plant but I thought it could help and wanted to give it a try. Im very afraid my seedling will not survive from all this, I will have to wait now... I will not do ANYTHING now that can cause stress to this seedling anymore. Damn, I wish I had planted the seedling in smaller pot before the final one, for me it makes things much easier, I always have trouble starting with big pots, watering is much more confusing for newbies like me...

I hope my plant recovers from this fast and it didnt affect much my yield...

I also kept my grow light more distant (80cm distant) from the seedling to avoid any heat/too strong light stress at this time.

Fans indirectly blowing fresh air 24 hours.

Noticed some dark green color on the leaves and some very small blue/purple little stains on the pair of true leaves and few bit round the cotyledons... Any ideas of what it could be? (the picture was taken BEFORE all I just wrote above)

https://ibb.co/W34VHxw (picture of seedling)

For now I think this is all... I will keep you all updated if the seedling made it or not

Thanks everyone!

[Daskahn]

Usually purple this early is an indication that temps are low.. what are your temps?
also here’s a chart that may come in handy later

[heyholetsgrow]

Right, I dont have a termometer yet (I ordered one online, waiting to arrive) but I think my temps are over 25º C

Nice chart! Thanks a bunch

[heyholetsgrow]

Hey guys, Im back with some little updates

Good news, seedling is not dead, but it is growing very slowly I guess.

It has 5 days since planted on soil, Im trying to avoid overwatering, I could be wrong but my soil is getting dry pretty fast, I watered it yesterday with 0,5ml of organic root juice in 330ml of pH 6.3 water.
I bought at a local grow shop the root juice.

https://ibb.co/vBjMBkN (My nutes at the moment)

https://ibb.co/NTgXLXz (Some pics of the seedling)

https://ibb.co/H4XjCDt

My light is 80cm far from the pot Im afraid of burning the plant in its baby stage yet.

The soil close to the seedling seems compacted and when dry u cant stick ur finger in without cracking it... maybe it was from the other mix with worm castings because the rest around the pot is airy and not compacted soil... maybe that is delaying the root development... Im not sure... Is there anything I could do? Or just wait to the roots grow out that compacted mass which is not big

Would appreciate any thoughts or advices

Thanks all!

[Daskahn]

My thoughts are you should just wait.. because if you take the plant and try to replant it using more loose soil the time it’ll take the plant to regroup would be just as long as just waiting for the roots to bust through your current soil.. just be patient.. it’s already growing so let it grow.. best thing to do is not baby it.. as long as you water it properly and keep the right amount of light it’ll grow

[heyholetsgrow]

Hey Daskahn ! Yeah I wont do anything other than waiting now, I want to believe she will soon burst growth and its only a matter of time indeed

What is the most efficient way of checking if I need to water? People say to stick finger into soil and see if there is moist but Im afraid of damaging roots by doing that and on the upper layers I feel it dry, like a part of my finger when I stick its dry.

Also what amount of water should I give it when needed to water? Im using around 300ml, is that fine?

Thanks again sir!

[heyholetsgrow]

Im afraid my RH level inside the tent is too low causing more slow growth so I left my humidifier working for few hours and I put a tray with water inside the tent.

Cant know where the RH will be at now since Im waiting for my thermo hygro meter to arrive.

[heyholetsgrow]

Back with some update guys

It felt my soil was dry, after sticking my finger at least 4 cm it felt dry, so I decided to water the soil around close to the seedling with 300ml of pH (6.35) water with 0.5ml of root juice to stimulate some roots growth!

The seedling is slowly going on there, it has around 6 days of life since planted on soil, what are your opinions?

I kept my light between 65-70cm of distance and on 24h until I get my timer. I guess I will switch to 18/6 or 20/4

Some pics now!

https://ibb.co/Z6gT2yF (grow tent)
https://ibb.co/cvDtc83 (seedling)
https://ibb.co/McM4WdM (grow tent a bit open for air and humidity to come inside)

I need as soon as possible the tool to measure temps and humidity...

Any advices or comments are always great for me and hopefuly for others as well

Thanks all!

[Daskahn]

One thing I used to do with my fruit trees is water the plants when it rained outside... I kept my fruit trees inside during the winter.. when it snowed or rained or sleeted I would water based on the amount of rain or snow fell..
however another common method is using your finger and sticking it in till the first knuckle roots should be fine.. however I grow in hydroponics so this really isn’t an issue for me.. so I’m sure their are better people to ask.. but each grower has different factors like soil compensation, watering methods, humidity in the room or green house
min general though unless you live in a really dry area Mother Nature will tell you when to water

[Daskahn]

Another idea is figure out where your strain came from and figure out how often is rains there and water accordingly
I’m pretty complex on my methods of taking care of plants

[heyholetsgrow]

Following nature and outdoors conditions is one thing I will try at some point on another run definetly, seems pretty interesting for real

[Canuck147]

Your plant is doing fine - in fact - it's happy as hell. I can tell by the reaching up of the leaves.

It's doing exactly what it is supposed to be doing right now - growing its roots.

It'll be like that for 10 - 14 days growing its roots.

Let it grow - and let your pot dry out before you water next.

[Daskahn]

One thing I’ve learnt in life.. if you want a good life... listen to the Canadians.. they got it figured out..

[heyholetsgrow]

Im pretty relieved to read that Canuck147

She is doing better now I guess, letting soil dry well before every watering, trying to avoid overwater and underwatering as much

Thanks!

[heyholetsgrow]

Hey everyone! Back with some updates

The seedling is doing better and I believe its right on track, Im only watering around the seedling 350ml with 0.5ml root juice when soil is dry and pot is lighter.

I got 1 new seed of Auto Gelat.OG from Seedsman. I already put it to germinate on paper towel and maybe I will start that one on a Solo Cup and transplant to a 9L pot later, any thoughts on this?

Also bought 2 digital timers for a very good price which it would cost for only 1 timer. I was thinking of using one for the light and another one only for the exaust system when I have it.

Gonna set the light cycle to 18/6 or 20/4 I will decid it... would appreciate opinions on that please!

Still waiting for thermometer...

Here some pics now!

https://ibb.co/dGbf5rx (8-9 days old seedling Chronic)
https://ibb.co/syQ8tkk (8-9 days old seedling Chronic)

Thanks!!
Peace

[Daskahn]

18/6 seems to work very well..
I always like a good deal
And I always like just starting in the pot they will be in.. however I do notice a time period where the plant seems to stall.. because it’s growing it’s roots to the size of the pot