My First Grow - Only One Autoflower Plant Under CFLs - Help Me Not Screw This Up!

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

for sure bro, i have a journal going, as well as ThatOneGuy. both journals are our firsts, but we've had alot of help and good info on both our grows thus far. some useful stuff you could probably use. I don't know much about autoflowering plants but i'm curious to learn. Good Luck man, and remember, patience is a virtue.

 

[ThatOneGuyy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

alright thack, i'm subbed, cause you need just as much help as i did when i first started here(shit, i STILL need help)

germination
paper towel plate method, but first, get your seeds ready by soaking them in a cup of warm water over night(at least 12hrs, preferably 24). Once soaked, place seeds between warm wet paper towels, then between warm plates, keep somewhere warm/dark. key word. WARM/DARK!!! after 2-3 days you'll get your tap root(white stringy thing popping outta your seed.

before planting
you always want to pre-soak your medium 24 hrs in advance and let drain before planting. so prolly around the same time you put the seed in the paper towels. Use pH'd water(prefferably not tap) or if tap is all you have, allow it to sit out for 24hrs as well.

planting
once you have a 1/2inch to 1 inch tail on your seeds you're ready to plant. use a pencil or your pinky finger to poke a hole about an inch or two deep in the center of your soil. Dangle your little seed over the hole, carefully place the tail in the hole, drop your seed, and sprinkly a little soil on top. Keep it dark until your lil thing pops up outta the soil and you see two little round embro leaves, once you see those leaves, start your light cycle, and dont water until your soil is dry 2 inches down.



That should give you a good start. You follow those steps and you're good to go atleast to get a seedling popped then we can help ya from there!


While you're waiting for everything to go down, do your research. Read other people's journals. Read the "How to Grow Marijuana" thread in the grow room. READ READ READ! Soak up as much information as possible.

and NO NUTES. Atleast til your plant gets 4 sets of true leaves on her.


good luck

sensimilla,

Murz

This is just fine but the 24 hour pre-soak isn't all that necessary. I usually go from new seeds straight to paper towel. They pop within a 24hr period. So it really is up to the growers own style.

Oh man thank you for that. I do have white walls so I'll quit messing with it. It's such a hassle. Space is about 3x3. Height isn't an issue because it's a closet, so pretty much up to the ceiling. But it's just a little one so that shouldn't be a worry. There should be plenty of ventilation. Also I read about that yeast/sugar Co2 thing... you heard of it? I'm thinking about putting one of those in there since it seems pretty easy. Advantages/disadvantages?

As for the Co2 I wouldn't worry about that until flower. It isn't something you need to add in the early stages. I plan on doing that next week and setting up a small Co2 yeast generator so you can keep an eye on my journal for that update.

Also, Since you are doing an autoflower seed you will wanna keep a constant light schedule. I would go with 18/6 or 20/4 light cycle. Through the entire grow.You will not have a 12/12 schedule at all.

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

This is just fine but the 24 hour pre-soak isn't all that necessary. I usually go from new seeds straight to paper towel. They pop within a 24hr period. So it really is up to the growers own style.



As for the Co2 I wouldn't worry about that until flower. It isn't something you need to add in the early stages. I plan on doing that next week and setting up a small Co2 yeast generator so you can keep an eye on my journal for that update.

Also, Since you are doing an autoflower seed you will wanna keep a constant light schedule. I would go with 18/6 or 20/4 light cycle. Through the entire grow.You will not have a 12/12 schedule at all.

Thanks man. I will put Co2 on the backburner for now, but you still think I should use it when the time comes? I guess I can figure that out then. Subscribed to your and Murz's journals. (If there's anyone I missed or whatever, let me know)

I have a little timer from Home Depot set up for 20/4 light schedule. Broke one of my bulbs today moving stuff around (stupid) so I'll have to go back to the store tomorrow while the seeds are in their paper towel. Again with the budget/cfl thing, but what should I pick up? I hear a lot about light spectrums and stuff... Right now I just have 3 2700k cfls. Have room for 2 more I think.

I'll post pics when I pick up the seeds so you guys can see them. And probably an updated one of the room, I'll be tidying that up a bit.

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

A little update... picked my seeds up this morning and put them in their paper towel/plate set up. Nothing really to see at this point, I followed Guyy's method for germ. Put it in a dark drawer and went to class. Seed looked good! No cracks or weird discoloring. I shelled out a few bucks for it so I'm glad it turned out to be a good looking seed. And now we play the waiting game...

 

[ThatOneGuyy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Yes, Co2 should come later. I plan on doing that within the next week. Another things about the paper towel and plate is that you cover the plate in plastic wrap and after a day you should already see signs of life.

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Hey guys - quick update: Seed is in the paper towel. Has been for the past 30 hours or so. I'm hoping I'll get something soon. Any tips to speed it up or am I just new and impatient?

I'm going to pick up some lights tomorrow so they'll be ready when she pops!

Any suggestions on CFLs to get? More watts the better, or color spectrum?

 

[ThatOneGuyy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Heres a stupid question: the paper towel is wet right? make sure its its moist and not overly soaked. I suran wrap it and leave it in my drawer. 24-48 hours you should have a taproot by then.

Hopefully you get something soon.

 

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Hey guys - quick update: Seed is in the paper towel. Has been for the past 30 hours or so. I'm hoping I'll get something soon. Any tips to speed it up or am I just new and impatient?

I'm going to pick up some lights tomorrow so they'll be ready when she pops!

Any suggestions on CFLs to get? More watts the better, or color spectrum?

shoulda soaked em! lol, they'll pop that tap root out in the next day i bet. just be patient.

as for the CFL's i'd grab some bigger ones that'll say like 2700k blaa blaa blaa. its the amount of LUMENS that you want. more the better. do a forum search for "CFL GROW" and check out what other people used.

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Heres a stupid question: the paper towel is wet right? make sure its its moist and not overly soaked. I suran wrap it and leave it in my drawer. 24-48 hours you should have a taproot by then.

Hopefully you get something soon.

Haha yeah I did soak them, not to worry. I just checked a minute ago and it looks like a little white SOMETHING is trying to poke out. Should I wait a couple hours or just leave it overnight?

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

shoulda soaked em! lol, they'll pop that tap root out in the next day i bet. just be patient.

as for the CFL's i'd grab some bigger ones that'll say like 2700k blaa blaa blaa. its the amount of LUMENS that you want. more the better. do a forum search for "CFL GROW" and check out what other people used.

haha I will have to try next time, I'm so impatient it's crazy. And I will definitely pick up some 2700k bulbs, I'd just seen a lot of stuff about different kinds of light and whatever... gets confusing.

 

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

yeah i know it does, dont plant those suckers till that little white tail is like a half inch long, you CAN plant it now, but you'll have better results if you wait, and be VERY careful with it. try not to touch the root, or you might damage it, and be careful putting it in the soil.

 

[ThatOneGuyy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Like Murz said, Just wait. Im sure when you wake up today you will be surprised to see the progross of it. I have had seeds that popped in under 10hrs and i have seeds that took 48hrs. It really just depends on the seed.

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Ok guys, UPDATE:

Sprouted overnight, had a nice 3/4 tail when I woke up. Planted straight into my 2 gal pot that was presoaked yesterday, so it's not drenched and not dry. When should I water again? I have the tail facing down and everything, under just a bit of soil. Hit the lights with it when I see growth? And how long should I wait until I expect something to show?

 

[TaylorMade420]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

sub'd for his one

 

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Ok guys, UPDATE:

Sprouted overnight, had a nice 3/4 tail when I woke up. Planted straight into my 2 gal pot that was presoaked yesterday, so it's not drenched and not dry. When should I water again? I have the tail facing down and everything, under just a bit of soil. Hit the lights with it when I see growth? And how long should I wait until I expect something to show?

you should see it break the surface in about 24 to 72 hours, you might see the shell of the seed hanging on for dear life, but it'll fall off...then you'll see two little round leaves, once you see those, flip your lights on. you can do 24/0 light schedule, i did 20/4 just to let my grow room cool down a little bit and to save on electricity costs, and dont worry about watering for a couple days. the general rule of thumb is only water when the soil is dry top two inches. and careful not to get water on your seedling, it may cause root rot or stem rot. just water around it, and not too much, cause its still very small, maybe like a cup of water every 2 or 3 days for about a week or two then up the water by a half a cup or so. its better to underwater than to over water.

 

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

and with your CFL'S you want that light to be 2"-6" away from your plant, the closer the better, as long as its not too close, rule of thumb, if its too hot for your hand, its too hot for your plant. if you have the cfl's too far away it'll cause mad stretching and you'll have a flimsy super lanky seedling fallin over and your stem might snap. follow those directions and you should be good for a couple weeks bro!

 

[Stutzy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Looks like your off and running im in

 

[thack]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

GJ and Stutzy, welcome! Seedling is still under the soil, no signs of it popping. I want to look so bad but that would probably not be the way to go haha. Hoping I didn't accidentally fuck anything up without knowing it. The soil seems to be about right, not too dry and not too wet. Guess it's just a waiting game.

I picked up a couple more CFLs at the store yesterday, so I should be ready when it sprouts. I'll be pretty relieved once I see something that looks like a plant haha, until then it's kinda nerve wracking.

 

[Murz]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

patience is the key bro. keep up the good work!

 

[ThatOneGuyy]

Re: My first grow, only one autoflower plant under CFLs. Help me not screw this up!

Haha man! The Seedling one of the most difficult stages. You sit there wondering if they are gonna show up or not. You will get tempted to pull off their helmets. Trust me though if they are worthy seeds they will break free on their own. Believe in them and they will do great things. Once they root its only uphill from there.