700W LED - Auto Topping Grow - 2 Plants

FiveToMidnight said:
What would be your thoughts on that if you would be so kind?
Click to expand...
I hope you don't mind me throwing my 2p. I am a classic overwaterer when it comes to seedlings and know well all about drowning them. I too agree starting autos in their final pot is best and I killed several young autos trying to do this. Now I do this, start them in a paper towel, move them to their final pots full of dry Biobizz Light, and here is what I do different now. With the new seedling in the dirt I water with just 50 ml of water in a small circle around the seedling. Once it stands up and has started its first set of true leaves I will wait a day and add 50-100 ml of water again in a circle around it. No worries about getting any runoff at this point. Then I just judge by looking at her and the surrounding soil and every two or three days I add a little more water usually in the 100ml range. Once they appear to be growing plant and no longer a seedling I will up it to 200 to 400ml but again watering in a circle pattern ever outward from the plant every two to three days. It does take some practice to get this right and for awhile I was killing many more girls than I was harvesting. :rofl:

As someone else said, much better to underwater a seedling than overwater. Underwater you get a little droop in your girl, add some water and she perks right up. Overwater and she droops, curls, and starts to die and much more difficult to correct over saturated soil.

As for the size of the pots, I think 7.5l is a great size when trying to keep your girls on the smaller size but still get a decent yield. I have a couple photos that with a little training are staying under 1.5 meters outside and I have two Flash Seeds super autos that are suppose to get huge if allowed to, that in a 7.5 liter pot in a grow tent so far with a little training I have kept under 1.5 meters. I think that next size down of a pot would be great if you wanted to do a SOG but really think you should stick with the 7.5 and control your watering.

From one overwaterer to another, I hope this helps and good luck.
 
thebeast27 said:
And five autos like to go straight into there final pot mate for best yield.if u dont want them to big bur managable.id say use 11 litre pots.what i started growing with and still use them now from time to time.11 litre pot is a perfect size for a good sized auto.will easily pull 4 to 5 oz a plant in 11 litre pots.hope this helps.happy growing every1;)
Click to expand...

Thanks Beast, this is what I have read pretty much everywhere but I've also read not to top them but starting to find more people that are with good results. So I know things change as time goes on.
I started in final pots this time and everything has worked well so far. Managed to keep them looking healthy and happy since day one. I can't fit 11L pots in the cabinet I have lol, 7.5 is as big as I can do. But that should all be changing soon so I'll make a note of that recommendation.
I'd love to get 4-5 ounces but I think that would be the max I could get in this cab total.

Glasgrow said:
Hey five. Will jump to your journal when i got time. Just my 2 cents of info here. 7.5L could be about right, perhaps 10L or 11L may be better for you (seems to be the general consensus when i was researching for auto grows).

Transplanting - well all mine were transplanted twice. 1st from seedling pots to 3" pots, then into the ground apart from 2 i have on my balcony which are 10L pots.

Mousture issues - best to err on the side of caution. Easier to sort an underwatered plant than to sort a drowned overwatered plant. Even with my 2 on the balcony it going a week or even longer between waterings but now flushing mine. If leaves droop and look limp then give water, if they look droopy, have curled edges and feel damp then you have given them too much water and will need time to dry out. Hope all goes well for you and even some experienced growers still have problems and are still learning.
Click to expand...

Really appreciate the input mate, thanks a lot. I find more and more people are experimenting with Autos so it's great to know you transplant with good results.
I grow in a coco/perlite mix at 70/30 so over watering isn't much of a problem for me. I hadn't thought of it contributing to the high humidity though. I have been feeding daily as I see most people do this in coco and I wanted to see if it improved growth compared to last time where I let them dry out between feeds. I've also noticed the pH rising as time goes on so I was trying to keep it under control. Would you suggest I back off on feeding?

HemiSync said:
I hope you don't mind me throwing my 2p. I am a classic overwaterer when it comes to seedlings and know well all about drowning them. I too agree starting autos in their final pot is best and I killed several young autos trying to do this. Now I do this, start them in a paper towel, move them to their final pots full of dry Biobizz Light, and here is what I do different now. With the new seedling in the dirt I water with just 50 ml of water in a small circle around the seedling. Once it stands up and has started its first set of true leaves I will wait a day and add 50-100 ml of water again in a circle around it. No worries about getting any runoff at this point. Then I just judge by looking at her and the surrounding soil and every two or three days I add a little more water usually in the 100ml range. Once they appear to be growing plant and no longer a seedling I will up it to 200 to 400ml but again watering in a circle pattern ever outward from the plant every two to three days. It does take some practice to get this right and for awhile I was killing many more girls than I was harvesting. :rofl:

As someone else said, much better to underwater a seedling than overwater. Underwater you get a little droop in your girl, add some water and she perks right up. Overwater and she droops, curls, and starts to die and much more difficult to correct over saturated soil.

As for the size of the pots, I think 7.5l is a great size when trying to keep your girls on the smaller size but still get a decent yield. I have a couple photos that with a little training are staying under 1.5 meters outside and I have two Flash Seeds super autos that are suppose to get huge if allowed to, that in a 7.5 liter pot in a grow tent so far with a little training I have kept under 1.5 meters. I think that next size down of a pot would be great if you wanted to do a SOG but really think you should stick with the 7.5 and control your watering.

From one overwaterer to another, I hope this helps and good luck.
Click to expand...

Don't mind at all, really appreciate all input! :)
As mentioned above I use coco so I don't find overwatering to be a problem. I have tried letting pots dry out and this time I have been feeding daily since getting the third set of leaves. Never seen them look unhappy in this grow so far (touch wood).
I like your description of how to feed initially, I was doing almost exactly what you describe in this run and managed to get this far so I guess I should stick with what I know works lol.
My cab is 120cm high and I use a 300w LED so I need to keep plants quite short. So I think 7.5 is the max I can use but thanks heaps for your advice ;)
thebeast27 said:
Some good info been stamped down.good work growers:passitleft::high-five::goodjob:
Click to expand...
Hope you don't mind me kinda hijacking your thread a little dude ;)
 
Well been a long day at work and been to check the 2 autos and automazar is starting to flower.so very happy gardner.so she has just had all the defol treatment as northern light blue auto recieved a few days ago.i have snapped under the skirt pics to give u growers the idea of how much bottom growth i remove .well all of it ha ha.automazar;)
DSC_003368.JPG
and norhern light;)
DSC_003264.JPG
.8 weeks old tmz so proper update then.happy growing every1:passitleft::high-five:
 
Just one last point @ five (will get to your journal tomorrow). Definitelt back off with the feeding. As with watering it best to give too little than too much. Water, water, then a feed, repeat this cycle throughout the grow. Start off feed with 1/4 strength or even 1/2 strength and increase gradually. If they needing extra nutes then give them a wee bit extra. Have heard autos dont need too much in the way of nutes.
 
Some autos do feed quite heavy in flower depends how she wants it;) there all diffrent.but in veg not alot needed.but some people feed right from the start with good results;)
I give my autos 2 veg feeds if there lucky then onto bloom.and great advice glasgrow .water inbetween feeds for sure. Its natural and the plants thrive.how it should be;)
 
At u hemi.great choice with the biobizz lightmix.best thing to do mate to avoid ur overwatering but ensuring the plant has what it needs at the start of life.i normally use the biobizz light mix as u know pure magic.depending what size pot u use.get some water add ur root stimaulator and soak the medium well.aviod runoff as lightmix is full of goodies to keep things ph perfect.now that ur soil is all wet with root stim.put the germed bean into the soil.and under the light u go.this way u will not need to water for a good 2 and a half weeks . depending what light u using .but go by the weight of the pot.no more over watering;)
 
Glasgrow said:
Just one last point @ five (will get to your journal tomorrow). Definitelt back off with the feeding. As with watering it best to give too little than too much. Water, water, then a feed, repeat this cycle throughout the grow. Start off feed with 1/4 strength or even 1/2 strength and increase gradually. If they needing extra nutes then give them a wee bit extra. Have heard autos dont need too much in the way of nutes.
Click to expand...
I think you're right, I have just noticed burnt tips :(
thebeast27 said:
Some autos do feed quite heavy in flower depends how she wants it;) there all diffrent.but in veg not alot needed.but some people feed right from the start with good results;)
I give my autos 2 veg feeds if there lucky then onto bloom.and great advice glasgrow .water inbetween feeds for sure. Its natural and the plants thrive.how it should be;)
Click to expand...
I was only feeding daily to stop the pH going too high in root zone. Should I not worry about that?
 
No shouldnt need to worry .ur plant will tell u if ph is a problem.water inbetween feeds also helps stop any salt build up.i say feed twice a week and water inbetween the 2 feeds.plants will love u back for sure;)
 
thebeast27 said:
No shouldnt need to worry .ur plant will tell u if ph is a problem.water inbetween feeds also helps stop any salt build up.i say feed twice a week and water inbetween the 2 feeds.plants will love u back for sure;)
Click to expand...
Thanks beast, I'll give that a try.
Got a couple of burnt tips on one plant which I know is nutes being too strong and some yellowing leaves at the bottom of another but I think that's just cause its not getting much light down there. As soon as I can tell it has stopped stretching I'll remove them anyway.

I haven't fed or watered since Thursday but was thinking of giving them a big healthy dose of the new weeks ratio tomorrow and then will start what you have suggested above, if that makes sense lol
 
Also meant to ask, how long do you normally flush for before harvest?
I did 10 days last grow with the last two days being completely dark and I didn't have much yellowing at all. Nor did the buds swell much in the 48 hours of dark like many had said they experienced.
 
thebeast27 said:
Five i give a 10 day flush so ur bang on there.and iv tried the dark period myself with no noticable diffrence .good job;)
Click to expand...
Do you get much yellowing of leaves when you flush?
 
thebeast27 said:
Yea mate i get yellow leafs when i begin to flush.;)
Click to expand...
Hmmmmm maybe it was the strain I had before but mine were still green as, almost no yellow at all.
I'll do another 10 day flush this time and see what happens.
Do you flush everything out on the first day and then just water as needed or just give plain water everyday for the duration?
 
FiveToMidnight said:
Hmmmmm maybe it was the strain I had before but mine were still green as, almost no yellow at all.
I'll do another 10 day flush this time and see what happens.
Do you flush everything out on the first day and then just water as needed or just give plain water everyday for the duration?
Click to expand...
Were you harvesting by looking at the trichomes, if not maybe you are flushing too early?
 
Five i just feed them as normal for 10 days with plain water .thats how i flush.and some auto strains iv done as u say stay green right through the flush .but that dont put me off harvesting the girl.she comes down anyway;)
 
My leaves on the 2 balcony ones are yellowing at quite a quick rate. Am gonna give them both a flush later on today. Gonna have to boil some water to help chlorine evaporate quicker. I only got 2 x 5L bottles so will need both of them filled twice over for flush. 9L tubs will equal 18L of water to be passed through. I think that is correct. When in pass last 5L through i will add some black treacle to the bottle. Will do the same flush again next week on tue night and that will be it till the end so hoping that will be enough.
 
HemiSync said:
Were you harvesting by looking at the trichomes, if not maybe you are flushing too early?
Click to expand...
Yeah I was. I have a loupe and a digital microscope so I can see exactly what's happening. I harvested when I have about 50% amber trichs.
Smoke was smooth and didn't taste of chemicals so I assume all was good but thought it was meant to go yellow is all
thebeast27 said:
Five i just feed them as normal for 10 days with plain water .thats how i flush.and some auto strains iv done as u say stay green right through the flush .but that dont put me off harvesting the girl.she comes down anyway;)
Click to expand...
Thanks mate, appreciate the expertise ;)
 
Back
Top Bottom