Small, first time auto grow

[Klompen]

Hello! I am trying autos for the first time thanks to a generous benefactor who gave me a few auto seeds since he knows I'm going through some hard times right now. Big thanks to him(not sure if I can mention you, but thanks!).

So I have the following seeds total and then germinating:

Mephisto's Double Grape Auto (4/3)

Mephisto's Three Bears OG (1/1)

Mephisto's Three Bears OG/Tooth Decay (1/1)

We have a total of 5 autos in this grow, and I am pretty sure I have already done a few things wrong lol....

So my traditional method with photoperiod plants is to put them through a strict root-building regime in which I transplant them frequently to make a better root ball. I am learning that's a no-no with autos, but I am hoping my mix is limiting the problems caused.... if any. I also usually FIM my photo plants to make them branch like crazy, but again I have been hearing that's a no-no with autos.

Speaking of mix. I have a mix that is roughly the following:

4 parts coir
2 parts perlite
2 parts vermiculite
1 part peat
1 part lime/gypsum/ewc/fertilizers(random leftover Jobes and Espoma organic fertilizers), and silicon dioxide(expanded, in the form of kitty litter crystals).



In this picture you can see in the blue cups, clockwise starting on the bottom left there are the three Double Grape Autos and then the two Three Bears variants in the bottom row on the right. I currently have them under a 10,000 lumen(90W) LED flood light, but I have the parts to build some pretty sweet COB lights whenever I can get to that... They are under 24 hour light right now, but I have no idea if that is bad or not.

I transplanted them recently from the 3oz starter cups, and my GF is working on the grow bags we're intending to be the final planter(they're roughly 6-7 gallons).

This current mix is basically what I used on my most successful indoor grow in the past, but with the big change of not so much food built in to it. I found there were problems with really loading up the soil ahead of time, so I want to approach this a bit differently.

I'm so new to autos that I am not sure I even know all the right questions to ask, but I want to get on top of this ASAP.

Also, I really want to try to make some seeds from these. These girls are feminized from what I have been told, so I'd like to make another batch. I have such precious few and such limited variety that I would like to have some around for upcoming years and it might be fun to try crossing them eventually with some good photo strains. I just want to make sure I have a good apocalypse-proof auto seed supply lol... the 3 seeds I kept in reserve are not going to get me far.

My partner and I both have serious medical issues and don't have a very good relationship with food even when we are smoking. We definitely can't keep buying overpriced brick and other lackluster weed on our budget. Hopefully these autos will give us enough to get through the summer. Eventually I want to have autos in the first part of the year followed by photos at the end.

Anyway, any advice you all can offer would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Klompen]

The tiny one is bouncing back finally and really starting to grow. We're getting grow bags made as fast as we can, but I also have a cabinet to build. So much to do!

Anyone here grow autos in grow bags? Any tips for that?

 

[bibi40]

Hi ,


i don' t use grow bags but i think Nedank use some and have good result ,
i think it' s a good product .


but for now my advice is to transplant quickly in bigger pots , those are really tiny so don' t wait to much if you expect good weight ,
it' s better to plant in definitive pots with auto' s .
for the light schedule i' m use to 24/24 for 2 weeks then switch to 20/4 or 18/6 .

good start anyway

 

[Klompen]

Thanks! I hadn't realized the transplanting issue was such a big deal, but my mix is so loose that transplants are pretty gentle anyway. My photoperiod plants have always grown faster and created denser roots when I transplant carefully and often in a loose mix like this. I am filling the bags for them today. The bags we made are just shy of 10 gallons each. We were aiming for about the size of a 5 gallon bucket, but more square. Accidentally ended up doubling our capacity goal lol

This will definitely be the first time that I was in such a hurry that I didn't even have a cabinet ready. I have been building the grow cabinet around the seedlings as able. I should have a proper chamber for them within a few days here.

Anyone here flower under 24 hour light? I have an amazing waterproof outdoor digital timer, but I also have no idea where it is. So for the time-being I will leave it 24/7 unless I need to set aside the time to go hunt down the timer.

 

[bibi40]

I think here everybody flower them under 18/4 or 20/4 ,
24/24 only for the beginning and not everyone do this way ,


i thought i just seen one grower here ( but don' t remind who ) doing whole cycle 24/24 and seems to have good results too ,
but it' s really not usual ...

 

[Klompen]

Thanks Bibi40! I will do some reading on the light cycle and see if it matters at all. Right now it would be a whole lot easier just to not have a dark time, but I'll stop being lazy if it really matters...

 

[Klompen]

I have been doing quite a bit of reading about it and it seems like there's definitely those who preach for and against 24/0 light cycles, but I feel right now like the argument favors it in my mind. I guess we'll see!

My chamber is basically a frame built on top of a pallet that is covered in plywood and sheet plastic. It has no other features as of yet, but the floor space is about 3' 1" one way, and 3' 6" the other way. I only have two "10,000 lumen" LED flood lights hanging over them, but I will be building my COB lights as soon as I get a chance. I have 50W 120V COB lights that I have been sitting on for a while now, but I am eager to try. I have 600W worth of them and will be arraying them in fixtures that are 2 blurple and 1 full spectrum white, and will be wiring the blurples and whites out of phase so while one is flickering the other is covering it(since they are direct 120V, they suffer 60Hz ripple). I was waiting on aluminum soldering rods to build the heatsink and fixture they need to operate. Cool thing is they are even wet rated; so I just need to use some high temp silicon over the leads, and it is splash-proof.



Anyway there is a picture of that COB, and also here is a picture of the cabinet-in-progress. The huge 9.9 gallon grow bags are the 5 autoflowers.

 

[bibi40]

Nice ,


they will love those big pots

 

[Cmoon]

Sounds great, iv just had simular experience with rooting autos, my game plan with photoperiod is simular to yours. So looking to eliminate repotting stress im thinking 4 in rockwool cube with the wrapper left on to sprut and sat on your final pot medium at the earliest opportunity, also thinking along Bogs jackpot method with a bottomless bucket stacked on top of another or several when bog first posted it. Iv used both methods some years back with excellent results but somewhere down the line concluded I liked the forcing good root growth better for me.


Whats your thoughts bibi? and bests with the autos Klompen
Ive seen some really good feedback on the Mephisto's lines



Cmoon

 

[bibi40]

For me if i can' t put them in their definitive pot cash i use 4 liter square pots not width but with big heignt ( 30-35 cm ) for allow the tap root to go down ,
for now i have 4 autos growing in their definitive pots from the start and others in 4 liters pot , same ages , and actually not big difference .


the bottomless bucket can certainly be a good option too .

 

[Klompen]

Busy busy today but I thought I would post a few pics real quick..

Here is the first Double Grape Auto



Here is the second Double Grape Auto



Here is the third Double Grape Auto



Here is the Three Bears OG



Here is the Three Bears OG x Tooth Decay



So far so good. Lost a couple seedlings that were weak for no clear reason, but otherwise seems good so far. This is by far the biggest planter I have ever grown with indoors!!

 

[Klompen]

Here's a pic of the whole grow space and the seedling area. Right now I probably only have about 20W of 5000K LED light per square foot(maybe a bit more). Hopefully I can get the light density up to at least 40-50 per square foot once I get my COB fixtures done.

 

[Klompen]

They are coming along fairly nicely. So far they don't seem like they need fed, but I'm too new at autos to be sure.

 

[bibi40]

forn now they seem happy mate
you can wait for the feeding i thought .

 

[Cmoon]

looking swell buddy, those big pots are the way to go imho, im just tight with a rolling room and yours sure holds more commitment seed to weed in a controlled environment.


bests cmoon

 

[Deke]

The big pots usually don't help. Theres only so big a pot you need for autos. I've been running 5gal and 3 gal. Less watering with the 5gal but other than that nothing to gain. The # of plants you could have run in 3 gal vs. 9 gal, the harvest will be higher with the smaller pots due to numbers. Autos only grow so much.

 

[Klompen]

I'm sure you're right Deke, but fortunately for me I had only enough seeds to do this anyway. Even if I had more room; I just don't have more auto seeds....

 

[Klompen]

So they've gotten a tad bit bigger....



I am going all organic so far and have given them no food other than a smidge of molasses. Does anyone think I should feed these anything additional? I am leaning toward no...