Let me introduce myself...

[Farmbuck]

Welcome aboard !! You will find a lot of interesting growers here.

[GrumpyOldMan]

I guess you can't beat simple...I'm just try to do this the best way that I can, but I wonder if I'm making it more complicated than it needs to be(?).
We'll see, can't wait for my seeds to get here...

[UndergroundFarmer]

Ocean Forest may be a bit strong for seedlings, can we get someone more familiar with Fox Farms products to chime in? I think you might be better off germinating and vegging in Happy Frog. Then again, with autos, you shouldn't transplant so Ocean Forest may be the right call. You also didn't mention what kind of nutrient program you will be using for your coco grows. I've used Aurora Soul with good results but it can be hard to find lately. You might also want to invest in worm castings as a soil amendment and for mixing in with your coco. I started using WC this year and got frost levels I'd never seen before.

If the start with the autos doesn't go well, try some easy photoperiod strains. ILGM Purple Haze and Sensi Skunk #1 are very hard to screw up and they yield well. Green House Super Lemon Haze seems to be similarly forgiving but I haven't yet finished growing one out yet. I have grown autos, but only as of this year. I've had very good results from Seedsman Northern Lights, Pink Kush CBD and CBDV 1:1 (a Durban Poison variant I think).

[GrumpyOldMan]

UnderGroundFarmer,

Being new to this, I had done SOME, but not a lot of reading on what nutrients to use, I was planning to use FoxFarm's FX14050 Big Bloom, Grow Big & Tiger Bloom Liquid Fertilizer Nutrient Trio Hydro-Formula for my coco , and Fox Farm FX14049 Liquid Nutrient Trio Soil Formula: Big Bloom, Grow Big, Tiger Bloom for my soil. I kinda wanted to keep it all from the same manufacturer, so as to hopefully cut out any incompatibilities

From what I've read, since I'm using the Ocean forest, I shouldn't need any nutrients for the first month or so anyway, but the coco needs it from the beginning because the coco is just a GROWTH medium, and doesn't inherently have nutrients in it, and that I should probably use them at half strength(?)

I've read about worm casings, but not much, I'll look into what's going on with them since I'm using coco.

Thanks

[UndergroundFarmer]

Right. Sorry I've not been on the forums much last week because of work. The pre-mixed soils don't need the worm castings until about a month in when you'll need to start feeding. The ones in coco will benefit greatly from having WCs in the mix or added as a top dressing. The combination of bottle nutrients and WCs in plain coco/perlite grew out the frostiest stuff I've grown yet. I tried some of that produce yesterday and didn't touch ground again until this morning.

[GrumpyOldMan]

O.K., I've been doing more reading, specifically about LST, and I want to be sure that I'm understanding it correctly.
I got the idea of laying the plant over and tying it off, I've already tried it on one of my wife's plants, works well, but I've got a couple of questions about the new growth.

When I tie it over (after it has 4 - 5 nodes), will it grow a new stem/cola where each leaf is coming form the main stem? (which is how you get a flat canopy?)
And I've heard both ways about LST and Topping/FIMing an autoflower (what I'm getting), Some say don't on an auto , others say do it whenever you LST a plant?

I want to have a handle on this soon, I'm expecting my seeds soon.

Any input?

[Going2fast]

Welcome grumpy Yes a new stem will grow from over the leaves. After they get a few leaves on them the same thing will happen to them. Tie these down as they grow but go slowly. A little each day. You will break a few stems as you learn just stand them back up so the wound ends are together and tape or prop it into place. In a week it will be good.
topping an auto is growers choice. I do not as you stand a chance in stunting growth. If it's a vigorous plant it may handle it fine. You will get plenty of bud sites from lst alone. Happy growing

[GrumpyOldMan]

Well, you've pretty much confirmed what I had read, Thanks, I plan to use the LST method, but I doubt I'll do any topping, since this will be my first grow...Maybe later...
Thanks,