NorthernCosmos' First Indoor Soil Auto Grow: 2019

The longer it looks like an auto won't produce buds the more buds you get! It means it's spending more time in veg, giving you a bigger plant and more chance for training before it starts showing pistils. :thumb:
 
Right! I've been reading a lot about how sensitive the autos are to stress by trimming :oops:, but I take it that snipping of some "non-critical" leaves isn't fatal. They do contribute to the photo synthesis of course, but so will any new growth that get uncovered, so that may be a break even deal I guess.

Regarding the twine, I think it's the best I have right now. Got some of that thin wire inside a narrow flat plastic strip (the kind that is made for plant support), but that has much sharper edges, so I'm skipping it. I also have some plain and plastic woated wire made sold for the same purpose, but it's so thin that I fear it too may cut into the branches.
 
Just check them daily, because the plant is growing and the twine isn't moving.
 
Will do! I've used shoe-lace knots and have left some extra length, so it's easy to adjust.

I tried tucking away some of those shadowing leaves, but there are a couple on each plant that must go. It's so hard to bring myself to snip off leaves... I cant even do it to my chilies... But hey, it's time to toughen up and let them know who's the boss :cheesygrinsmiley:
 
Welcome to the forum, it's great to have you. :welcome:

Nice job on your set up too.

:nomo:
Been quietly reading along and very much enjoying your grow journal, but I have to say " If you want a much better chance of being successful with this grow, I'd definitely listen to these two guys and buy #5-5 gallon fabric pots for about $8.00-15.00 bucks"- delivered from Zon.
Might as well "bite the bullet now" you're gonna to need them anyway.

You got this ! :thumb:. :popcorn:
 
Thank you for the encouragement @John Wick! :)

(Better behave with Mr. Wick himself in da house... :nervous-guy::-p )

I will be heeding the advice about larger aerated pots eventually. From my chilies I know that there is a deifinate relationship between pot size and the resulting plant size. I'm afraid this grow may have to stay in the 3.2 gallon buckets, though. If nothing else, that means things will only get even better from here.

BTW, I notice that you have a smoke detector as part of the setup, like I do. Recommended for everybody with all the lighting, motors, heat, leads, electronic gadgets, water and and humidity.
 
NorthernCosmos said:
Thank you for the encouragement @John Wick! :)

(Better behave with Mr. Wick himself in da house... :nervous-guy::p )

I will be heeding the advice about larger aerated pots eventually. From my chilies I know that there is a deifinate relationship between pot size and the resulting plant size. I'm afraid this grow may have to stay in the 3.2 gallon buckets, though. If nothing else, that means things will only get even better from here.

BTW, I notice that you have a smoke detector as part of the setup, like I do. Recommended for everybody with all the lighting, motors, heat, leads, electronic gadgets, water and and humidity.
Click to expand...

"Roger Dee" on the smoke detector, I also have a larger fire extinguisher near by.

I do this with all of my grows, it doesn't matter which lights or fan motors your running, it just a safe practice all around.

Ya know, safety first. :thumb:

Now that I know you were there, welcome to the Boom Room.

Catch ya later, Brother. :snowboating:
 
Day 27. 4 days after watering and 3 days after LST.

While they're a lot bushier, I don't see much increase in height. I also notice that the upper leaves have light-green /yellow tips and "teeth" (see the third picture). As usual I'm reading all sorts of diagnostic guides and just getting more confused...

I think the soil is a bit dry. I've probed it through the speed holes, using my cheap moisture meter. While the meter is in the lower half of the "moist" scale segment, the probes are pretty much dry to the touch and the soil that the probes dragged out of the pot feels dry and falls of the probes. After the watering 4 days ago, which gave a growth spurt, the meter was in the top of the "moist" segment almost up to "wet". I think they need water, maybe even nutes. Whaddya gurus say?

I'm contemplating snipping off a leaf or two to expose more lower nodes. Only one leaf of each plant got snipped off during LST 3 days ago. A leaf or two more isn't dangerous, right?

Day_27_Ada.JPG

Day_27_Wren.JPG

Day_27_Wren_tips.JPG
 
Looks like the lettuce phenotype (;)) so feel free to take more leaves!
 
Ya it's probably due for watering and feeding. I notice in the one pic some of the lower leaves have the vein down the centers starting to yellow. This is typical of early mag def so keep that in mind. It's possible the nutes you give her will fix her up but you may need some calmag later.
 
Ah, so I may have reached that infamous Cal-Mag stage... I've been reading about it everywhere... Guess it had to happen :laughtwo:

But what do the plants do about it out there in the nature? Oh well, there's a lot of calcium in the water here and also in the base soil, so I suppose Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) might be a solution. I just ordered 0.5kg which will be here in a couple of days. For now, I'll give them some water with 1/4 dose nutrient mix, with a little extra of the Advanced Nutrients Micro which contains both calcium and magnesium.
 
careful with the epsom salt.... 1 tbls is all that is needed for an entire grow, and giving too much can and will cause major lockouts of other vital nutrients. Check out Mulder's chart for these interactions.
Because it is easy to preload the soil with too much magnesium, we have found it best to add it in micro doses via molasses and what is naturally in tap water and in your base nutes, and if a need shows up for more than this, the calmag supplements are handy to have around to fill in the gaps.
 
Thanks Emilya - I'll be very careful! Will be studying Mulder's chart too (link here for others that are interested). I see that there's a calcium->magnesium antagonism, so with hard water one could get magnesium deficiency. Maybe also worth noting the nitrogen->magnesium stimulation. Hmm. OK, it will take a few grows to gain experience enough to juggle these factors. I'll try not to get hung up on it, but some awareness is good.
 
Day 28. They got a good feeding yesterday, with 1ml VIta Link Root Stim, 1.25ml AN Micro, 1ml AN Grow and 0.5ml AN Bloom per liter water. They got roughly 1 liter each. The result was another growth spurt. Both gained a lot in overall height in less than 24 hours, maybe more than 5cm(!).

Based on my observations so far, I've come to the conclusion that I've not been giving theme enough water. They've gone almost a week between feedings and seemingly stagnated for half the week after each - and when they get some they grow like crazy. I'll be upping the feeding scheme from now on, based on monitoring the moisture by taking soil samples through the speed holes. I have a feeling that every 4th day will be about right. As the plants grow they'll be consuming more water, so it all stands to reason.

The LST has had a good effect. Still reluctant to snip those shadowing leaves, but hey it's only lettuce (@InTheShed :p), so I'll get on with it.

Edit: I'm now thinking they would've been quite a bit taller, with greater inter nodal distances and longer branches for LST-friendliness if I were more generous with the water. Of course, that's only my wishful noob thinking which needs more data points, aka a few more grows, to be of much worth...

This is how they look now:

Day_28_Ada.JPG


Day_28_Wren.JPG
 
The possibility of growing a lettuce pheno is a good reason to always fill the pot almost all the way to the top! It will settle some after a few waterings anyway and you will have most of the plant above the rim rather than below.
 
Day 30. More yellowing. I just dissolved 1g Epsom salt in 1l of water. Each plan got 0.5l of that. Keeping my fingers crossed for some improvement... I suppose the yellowing is there to stay, but if this is indeed the right cure, the new growth that isn't yellowing yet will make use of it, I hope. I wonder how long the delay is for corrections like this to take effect. What do you think about the dose?

Current environment data: lights at 24 inches above top of plants, temps 25°C day and 19°C night, RH 44%.

Edit: I'm following up the training - did some pulling an tucking after the pics below were taken.

Day_30_Ada.JPG


Day_28_Wren.JPG
 
OK Crazy! :D

As you may have read, I'm having a hard time ripping the limbs of my dear Ada and Wren... :nervous-guy:But what the heck - today is dismembering-day! I'll take a couple more (done a couple already) that are shadowing potential colas. Should those huge ones on the very bottom got too, or should they stay for the photosynthesis (perhaps those are the ones you're talking about)? If I were to snip of, say 4 or 5 leaves, should I do it over time or all at once?

Edit: also exposing steadily more nodes by tucking leaves and adjusting the LST scheme, which looks promising - will post pics when some more leaves are gone.
 
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