Beginner Grow Journal, Autoflower Coco Coir, COB LED Grow

[N00b Pk]

Hello everyone!
Welcome to my noobie grow journal!​

I will be looking forward to meet and learn from all the wonderful people in this website.

Here's a little information about my grow:
Tent: 2x2x5 feet
Light: 150W COB LED (18 hours on/ 6 hours off)
Fans: 4 Inch exhaust, 1 small fan for airflow circulation
Substrate: Coco coir, perlite, blonde and black peat, Dolomite wood and rocks
Nutrients: Coco A+B, CalMag
Seeds: 1 XXL Banana Auto, 1 Auto Gold

I started this grow 3 weeks ago, I thought of planting 1 seed at first. I went with choosing XXl Banana Auto to plant. During the first week the seed germinated and I noticed one of its cotyledon had a tear in the middle(I did not cause this as I did not touch the seedling). This is where growth started to slow down, during the last week it has grown 2 sets of leafs, which to me seems to be little. Due to lack of growth I decided to germinate another seed and see if this one would show signs of faster and healthier growth.

My temperatures range from 19-25 Celsius during lights on and 16-19 during lights off. The RH fluctuates between 50-65% during lights on and 60-68% during lights off. The light is set at about 3 1/2 feet from the seedlings.
For both plants I have given them 5.8 PHed tap water until first true leaves showed. Then I have started feeding Coco A+B and CalMag at about 1/10th to 1/8th of the recommended dose to see and how they would react.
My watering schedule has been the first week to water them every other day so the root system could go "looking" for water and establish its roots. After the first week I pretty much feed everyday until 20% runoff.

After feeding them it seems that growth has started to pick up a little bit. But nonetheless I feel like I am doing something wrong.

I am posting below pictures of a few days ago. Any help would be appreciated!

Banana XXL (3 weeks since sprout):

Auto Gold (5 days from sprout):

 

[mmjmon]

Looks good.

 

[Farmer Reading]

Look forward to watching the COB's in action.

The Banana XXL looks like she is going to find her own soon (am betting the strain is a slow starter) and the Auto Gold looks right on track.

Something tells me you maybe over watering and 5.8 ph seems a bit low (that could be fine for coco and other mediums).

Disclosure: I have never grown in Coco where the watering schedule and ph levels differ. What percentage of your blend is coco?

Generally if you have good genetics a runt can still turn out to be a good plant. Auto's kinda work on their own schedule, so a strong consistent start is most vital.

Look forward to updates

 

[Bill284]

Hello everyone!
Welcome to my noobie grow journal!​

I will be looking forward to meet and learn from all the wonderful people in this website.

Here's a little information about my grow:
Tent: 2x2x5 feet
Light: 150W COB LED (18 hours on/ 6 hours off)
Fans: 4 Inch exhaust, 1 small fan for airflow circulation
Substrate: Coco coir, perlite, blonde and black peat, Dolomite wood and rocks
Nutrients: Coco A+B, CalMag
Seeds: 1 XXL Banana Auto, 1 Auto Gold

I started this grow 3 weeks ago, I thought of planting 1 seed at first. I went with choosing XXl Banana Auto to plant. During the first week the seed germinated and I noticed one of its cotyledon had a tear in the middle(I did not cause this as I did not touch the seedling). This is where growth started to slow down, during the last week it has grown 2 sets of leafs, which to me seems to be little. Due to lack of growth I decided to germinate another seed and see if this one would show signs of faster and healthier growth.

My temperatures range from 19-25 Celsius during lights on and 16-19 during lights off. The RH fluctuates between 50-65% during lights on and 60-68% during lights off. The light is set at about 3 1/2 feet from the seedlings.
For both plants I have given them 5.8 PHed tap water until first true leaves showed. Then I have started feeding Coco A+B and CalMag at about 1/10th to 1/8th of the recommended dose to see and how they would react.
My watering schedule has been the first week to water them every other day so the root system could go "looking" for water and establish its roots. After the first week I pretty much feed everyday until 20% runoff.

After feeding them it seems that growth has started to pick up a little bit. But nonetheless I feel like I am doing something wrong.

I am posting below pictures of a few days ago. Any help would be appreciated!

Banana XXL (3 weeks since sprout):

Auto Gold (5 days from sprout):

Good morning @N00b Pk hope you are well my friend.
Welcome to 420magazine my.
I'm a big fan of coco mind if I follow along.
As a rule of thumb Coco should be wet at all times with nutrients.
Never skip a day.
Water around the outside edges of cup until it comes out the bottom.


Stay safe
Bill

 

[N00b Pk]

Hello fellow growers! Thank you for your replies, I am thrilled I have a lot to read and learn from your journals.

Look forward to watching the COB's in action.

The Banana XXL looks like she is going to find her own soon (am betting the strain is a slow starter) and the Auto Gold looks right on track.

Something tells me you maybe over watering and 5.8 ph seems a bit low (that could be fine for coco and other mediums).

Disclosure: I have never grown in Coco where the watering schedule and ph levels differ. What percentage of your blend is coco?

Generally if you have good genetics a runt can still turn out to be a good plant. Auto's kinda work on their own schedule, so a strong consistent start is most vital.

Look forward to updates

Hi @Farmer Reading , thank you for coming along this journey with me. I am not sure I can over water coco, I have gone through many other coco journals and the general concensus is that coco should always be moist and watered frequently (If not everyday multiple times) with a pH in between 5.5-6.5. Personally, I have been watering it less frequently the first 4 weeks, at about 3 times per week. I don't know how much coco is in my light mix, if I would have to guess it would be about 50% coco, 30-40% perlite, the rest would be the peat moss and the pieces of Dolomite wood and rocks.

Good morning @N00b Pk hope you are well my friend.
Welcome to 420magazine my.
I'm a big fan of coco mind if I follow along.
As a rule of thumb Coco should be wet at all times with nutrients.
Never skip a day.
Water around the outside edges of cup until it comes out the bottom.


Stay safe
Bill

Good afternoon @Bill284 , I have seen you post in many other members journals. It is an honor and pleasure to have you hop on along with me on this grow. I've also got to read some of your journals, whenever I have enough time I will give it the proper read it deserves as there is a lot I can learn from! As I said above these first 4 weeks I have watered pretty much every other day. Now that the plants seem to have started to pick up the growth I will be looking to feed everyday until 20% runoff.

Thanks again for joining me in my journal, I will post below a quick update on how the plants are going. Have a good day everyone!

 

[N00b Pk]

Quick post update, last night I left my heating on, temperatures creeped up to 35°C for about a couple hours. Plants seemed to be fine this morning, will be careful it doesn't happen again.

The Banana XXL Auto seems to have picked up the pace, it has formed already it's 4th node and making it's 5th at the moment. The Auto Gold has got it's second set of true leaves and making the third one at the moment.
I am going to LST both autos, during my first grow I did not touch the plants and let them grow so I would gey a feel of the process. This means it will be my first time LSTing, I already looked and some journals/guides to get an idea on how to do it. But any suggestions are always helpful so feel free to chime in! A question I have is, should I wait for the plants to have a healthy 5th node developed or could I do it when they are on their 4th node?

Banana XXL (30 days since sprout):

Auto Gold (11 days from sprout):

 

[Farmer Reading]

Looks like Banana XXL is finding her own!!! I would say fifty percent coco would constitute a coco grow.

Thanks for the updates!

Planning to run a couple autos at some point in a pre-blended a coco blend, so I'll be learning a lot from your journal.

Depending on the size of the pots I can go upwards of ten days without watering in soil blends a definite no-no in a coco blend.

Bill is a massive asset to the community and a vessel of knowledge.

 

[Bill284]

Quick post update, last night I left my heating on, temperatures creeped up to 35°C for about a couple hours. Plants seemed to be fine this morning, will be careful it doesn't happen again.

The Banana XXL Auto seems to have picked up the pace, it has formed already it's 4th node and making it's 5th at the moment. The Auto Gold has got it's second set of true leaves and making the third one at the moment.
I am going to LST both autos, during my first grow I did not touch the plants and let them grow so I would gey a feel of the process. This means it will be my first time LSTing, I already looked and some journals/guides to get an idea on how to do it. But any suggestions are always helpful so feel free to chime in! A question I have is, should I wait for the plants to have a healthy 5th node developed or could I do it when they are on their 4th node?

Banana XXL (30 days since sprout):

Auto Gold (11 days from sprout):

Sorry I missed that question at the end there.
Generally when they hit the 5th node they start alternating, indicating maturity.
At this point if I want to top a lady I do it there or further up, depending on my plans.
Also I used to let them grow past where I want to cut and make a great clone from the top.
It takes a bit longer but I get healthy robust girls.
Just a general rule of thumb.
But people do it higher and lower with success.
My main concern is that she is healthy and growing vigorously before I do anything.
Now I let them grow a couple feet high and top them once.
Then I tie that branches horizontally.
Makes for great production and canopy control.

Stay safe
Bill

 

[N00b Pk]

Good evening, I am a little worried today because the plants are starting to have light green/ yellow spots on the leafs. I have noticed that the Banana XXL Auto got the yellowing first on the lower leaves and now it's spreading up to the top. I have been feeding the plants with 100 ppm of nutes (Not counting the ppm of tap water). I thought they were giving signs of deficiency so today I decided to up a little bit my nutes. I added 2ml of CalMag and 2,5ml of Coco A+B per gallon raising the ppm to 300.

I am posting pictures below for better reference. I also decided yesterday to give my Banana XXL Auto it's first LST training. Any help is always appreciated, have a good weekend everyone.

Banana XXL (32 days since sprout):

Auto Gold (13 days since sprout):

 

[Bill284]

Good evening, I am a little worried today because the plants are starting to have light green/ yellow spots on the leafs. I have noticed that the Banana XXL Auto got the yellowing first on the lower leaves and now it's spreading up to the top. I have been feeding the plants with 100 ppm of nutes (Not counting the ppm of tap water). I thought they were giving signs of deficiency so today I decided to up a little bit my nutes. I added 2ml of CalMag and 2,5ml of Coco A+B per gallon raising the ppm to 300.

I am posting pictures below for better reference. I also decided yesterday to give my Banana XXL Auto it's first LST training. Any help is always appreciated, have a good weekend everyone.

Banana XXL (32 days since sprout):

Auto Gold (13 days since sprout):

Good morning @N00b Pk hope your having a good day my friend.
Great garden.
Do you have the schedule for your nutrients?
Is there a reason your not following it?
Your ladies are hungry.
Put the calmag in your water first, as per recommended dosage.
Wait 15 minutes add A then B as per recommended dosage on the feed chart of the schedule per week, full strength.
Your ppm's are low.
Are you phing to 5.8, feeding every day? Aswell?

Stay safe
Bill

 

[N00b Pk]

Good morning @N00b Pk hope your having a good day my friend.
Great garden.
Do you have the schedule for your nutrients?
Is there a reason your not following it?
Your ladies are hungry.
Put the calmag in your water first, as per recommended dosage.
Wait 15 minutes add A then B as per recommended dosage on the feed chart of the schedule per week, full strength.
Your ppm's are low.
Are you phing to 5.8, feeding every day? Aswell?

Stay safe
Bill

Good morning @Bill284 , I am always pHing my feed to 5.8 I also add the CalMag first and wait to add the A+B nutes. On the feed schedule I did not take a look at it till now...

From where I am at in terms of weeks it says to feed 2ml/1L of Coco A and B. I have been given it 0.5ml/1L at the moment.

I will be looking to increase the amount of nutes given today. Thanks for the help again Bill, have a good weekend!

 

[Farmer Reading]

The girls are hungry, but appear to be pretty healthy.

Makes me happy that I grow in soil.

 

[N00b Pk]

The girls are hungry, but appear to be pretty healthy.

Makes me happy that I grow in soil.

Hello @Farmer Reading , the girls are picking up the pace but I think I know what I was doing wrong. I never mentioned that during the second week my pH meter was dropped into a bit jug of water and got ruined...I got another one but this is where the issue starts.
I think the pH meter was not properly calibrated, therefore I have been giving both plants nutrients at the wrong pH. I have 2 different pH meters coming tomorrow so I can check if they are reliable or not. For now the plants leafs keep getting lighter in color with circular patterns forming. I hope the plants can kick back from my mistake.

 

[N00b Pk]

I am also a little bugged out by the fact that the pot that has the Auto Gold seedling smells like crap everytime I water it. I think it's because one day I used newspaper to dry up the bottom of the container and left the pot on top of it. Result was the newspaper got stuck to the coco coming out from the bottom holes of the pot. I tried rinsing it out a little bit with my shower hose but I don't think I got it fully. If anybody has any idea of how I can flush the paper out that would be great .
Posting pictures below of how the girls were doing this morning. Have a good day everybody!

Banana XXL (5 weeks since sprout):

Auto Gold (16 days since sprout):

 

[N00b Pk]

Good afternoon all, the girls seem to be doing better since I corrected the pH. The discoloration of the bottom leafs appears to have stopped spreading. The Banana XXL has started to grow rapidly again, while it's younger sister the Auto Gold is still forming it's 4th set of leafs.
It is still bugging me the fact that everytime I water the pot it smells like wet manure. This only happens to the Auto Gold while the pot that has the Banana XXL gives off no foul smells.


Banana XXL (38 days since sprout):

Auto Gold (19 days since sprout):

 

[Farmer Reading]

Looking really good.

Don't really need to worry about the Banana XXL, since she'll start to get explosive when she is ready.

Auto Gold should double in size probably within a week. Probably want to up pot her as soon a practical.

Did I miss something with your medium? Is there a reason to smell manure? Does it smell like fresh horse/cow manure/or like nasty shit? I would let things dry out with her maybe?

Decaying/composting coco coir smell like shit.

 

[N00b Pk]

Looking really good.

Don't really need to worry about the Banana XXL, since she'll start to get explosive when she is ready.

Auto Gold should double in size probably within a week. Probably want to up pot her as soon a practical.

Did I miss something with your medium? Is there a reason to smell manure? Does it smell like fresh horse/cow manure/or like nasty shit? I would let things dry out with her maybe?

Decaying/composting coco coir smell like shit.

Good evening @Farmer Reading , things seem to be looking better now that I have a working and calibrated pH meter. Sidenote to self, next time I can just check the pH of my mineral water and see if it matches with the label.

When I water the Auto Gold I would say it resembles the smell of a sewer, it is not a horrible or nasty smell. Rather as you said like manure or feces. In hindsight I think I might have used this pot on the grow before, would anything happens if I have a tiny bit of decaying old coco in my medium?

 

[Farmer Reading]

Reliable equipment is very helpful.

Can't remember the last time I used a PH meter.
A must if I grow in coco vs. soil.

When coco coir is available on sale I'll compost it to mix with my living soil blends.
I have found it compost quite well. I have also found it smells pretty rough.
Highly doubt it is a serious issue.

Very nice to see things on track.

 

[N00b Pk]

Hello all, hope everyone's having a good Sunday. I am a little bit bugged out because I just snapped the main stem of my Banana XXL Auto on accident trying to LST it. Took off about the first 2 new nodes forming and she just started to show signs she is starting to flower. Everything seems to be going well for both autos at the moment, apart for the little snapping of the main branch. I will post pictures that I took yesterday of the Banana XXL and post another one of today for comparison.

Banana XXL taken yesterday (47 days since sprout):

Banana XXL taken today after the "decapitation" (48 days since sprout)

Auto Gold (29 days since sprout):

 

[N00b Pk]

Hello all,

Sorry for not posting in a while, I've been busy these past few weeks. I am uploading some pictures taken this morning of the girls.
The Banana XXL is having its upper leafs yellow out with brown spots, Mag deficiency? Passed my fingers through the brown spots and it does not look like fungus or mold.
I have fed both of them with 350 ppm of nutes (Coco A+B and CaMag) at pH of 6. Runoff measured was a pH of 6,2 and 280 ppm for the Auto Gold. On the other hand the Banana XXL Auto had runoff pH of 6,5 and ppm of 250.
I would like to mention my lights are as high as possible but the top of the plants are pretty close to them, I have not measured how far but about 5 inches or a little bit more.
The pictures I will upload are not the best quality, I will upload more pictures tonight under normal lights.
Banana XXL (86 days from sprout):

Auto Gold (67 days from sprout):