I just read the genetics of GC it should’ve done great in hot temps. I must have stunted it by watering before I read Emilia’s link.
Strange Auto behavior?
- Thread starter jokerlola
- Start date
Just checked my 2 plants I stunted after reading Emiiliy’s site and WOW prolly grew 1” and new leave growth. Thanks E .
- Thread starter
- #43
So these Autos are still just nubs. They didn't grow anymore and seem to be just frozen in time. The buds don't even seem to be maturing. I thought I would have harvested them by now but the trich's are all still crystal clear. I should have ditched them but I decided to see them through. The other one is growing big like a photo and is even bigger than my actual photos and sprouted at the same time. I've scoured for bugs and can never see any. No eggs or droppings either. Is this just classic Auto stunt? All my other plants are growing healthy with the same soil and water.
Just a recap: I planted these seeds on April 28th and they sprouted on May 1st. They grew well in the Solo cups but I probably transplanted too late. I put them permanently outside around June 1st. They had a bit of a spurt at first and then started flowering and never got any bigger. They are in Sohum Living Soil in 5gal Smart Pots.
Just a recap: I planted these seeds on April 28th and they sprouted on May 1st. They grew well in the Solo cups but I probably transplanted too late. I put them permanently outside around June 1st. They had a bit of a spurt at first and then started flowering and never got any bigger. They are in Sohum Living Soil in 5gal Smart Pots.
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
I do my own custom soil mix, but I've been pointing people to FF lately. Doesn't the Happy Frog have higher NPK than the Ocean Forest?
No, the ocean forest is a little hotter5-7-3
Edit: I was wrong. The FFOF is 4-1-1, the happy frog is 5-7-3.
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
Hmm, almost exactly the same. OF has a slight bit more P. HF also contains humic acid, myco, and bacteria. OF doesn't contain these.
NAGreengo
Well-Known Member
Avoid These Mistakes When Growing Cannabis In Soil...
To make indoor gardening easier, many growers will start growing their plants using a potting soil that has nutrients in it. Nutrients are required for plant growth and many growers refer to it as plant food. One of the most popular potting soils (with lots of plant food included) is FoxFarm...
www.mrgrowit.com
Dog gone, the site I looked at was way off!Hmm, almost exactly the same. OF has a slight bit more P. HF also contains humic acid, myco, and bacteria. OF doesn't contain these.
- Thread starter
- #49
I've wondered if the Sohum was too hot. They do say it's too hot for direct seeds and seedlings. They say to make a cone of light mix for seeds and seedlings so they are more mature when the roots grow into the Sohum.
HappyHazmat88
Inhale Confidence, Exhale Doubt
To be honest most advice I give is experience based....some research... but mainly trial and error through personal grow experience....not to much exact science involved.
So I can't weigh in on that personally through a scientific standpoint...sorry just being honest.
But from personal runs Ive seen seedlings move kinda slow in just HF, and then have seen multiple seedlings fry and die in OF.... But starting off in HF top 1/3 of pot and then Slowly grow into the OF that fills the rest, I've had good success and happy healthy plants.
CelestialNurseries
Well-Known Member
Is that a thing?
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
I'm glad this came up, because I was also way off!
I googled for the back of the bags... lo and behold! I was on the right track to recommend the HF over the OF, but for a different reason – added humic, myco, and bacteria.
Both products are pretty low on the NPK. Maybe it's just me. I am used to adding concentrated organic fertilizers to my custom soil mix – i.e. big N, P, and K percentages... bat guano, seabird guano, greensand, potassium sulfate. I actually don't know my soil's NPK... I'll get it tested someday.
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
Thanks for asking this question!
This one? It has NPK 0.5 - 0.5 - 0.25
Compare that to Fox Farm Happy Frog at 0.3 - 0.3 - 0.05
So, the SOHUM has about 1.7 times the amount of N and P as Happy Frog, and 5 times the K as Happy Frog.
What is the best NPK value for potting soil for growing cannabis? Some quick googling, maybe not accurate...
0.030 - 0.006 - 0.022 (veg mix)
0.007 - 0.010 - 0.020 (flower mix)
0.025 - 0.008 - 0.030 (all-purpose mix)
So, these commercial potting soils – FF and SOHUM – would appear way too high in NPK.
Here's SOHUM compared to a hypothetical best "all-purpose mix":
SOHUM...... 0.500 - 0.500 - 0.250
ALL-PURP... 0.025 - 0.008 - 0.030
From this, the SOHUM looks to be too hot by a factor of: 20 - 63 - 8.4
For that matter, Happy Frog would also be too hot by a factor of: 12 - 38 - 1.7
Now let's compare ALL-PURPOSE to a premium cannabis potting soil...
BUILD-A-SOIL 3.0: 0.95 - 1.75 - 0.22
Hmm... not what I expected! BuildASoil 3.0 looks to be too hot by a factor of: 38 - 219 - 7.3
Let's look at another one... Roots Organics "Lush" Organic Potting Mix... roughly in the pallpark with BuildASoil 3.0...
Roots Organics Lush: 1.00 - 0.50 - 0.50
So by now you might be asking, what the heck is going on here?!
NOW let's add another level of complexity, and that is, the recognized best NPK for growing cannabis appears to be 3.00 - 1.00 - 1.00 (for veg). CAVEAT: This does not necessarily mean you create or acquire a grow mix that has NPK 3 - 1 - 1.
So, what we are seeing with these commercial soil mixes is that they contain a starting amount of nutrients that will last for a while, and then the grower will need to add nutrients. Or the grower will need to add nutrients basically immediately.
Now let's compare SOHUM to the ideal, 3 - 1 - 1 (for veg):
SOHUM: 0.50 - 0.50 - 0.25
IDEAL: 3.00 - 1.00 - 1.00
From this, we see SOHUM isn't hot at all... it's the opposite. SOHUM is deficient from the ideal by a factor of: 6 - 2 - 4. In other words, SOHUM has 1/6th the N, 1/2 the P, and 1/4th the K, than it should have to support optimum cannabis growth. (Can also be written, 16.6% N, 50% P, 25% K.) These deficiencies need to be remedied by adding liquid form NPK in the water.
From this, we see that basically all commercial potting soils are going to require added NPK (macro nutrients), and probably also micro nutrients (Ca, Mg, etc).
To conclude, here are the "deficiency factors" for the above mentioned soils*, as a percent of the ideal 3 - 1 - 1 (higher percent means more nutrients):
HAPPY FROG ......... 0.30 - 0.30 - 0.05 -> 10.0% - 30.0% - 05.0%
SOHUM .............. 0.50 - 0.50 - 0.25 -> 16.6% - 50.0% - 25.0%
BUILD-A-SOIL 3.0 ... 0.95 - 1.75 - 0.22 -> 32.7% - 175.% - 22.0%
ROOTS ORGANICS ..... 1.00 - 0.50 - 0.50 -> 33.3% - 50.0% - 50.0%
* I was going to include PRO-MIX soil as well, but it apparently has no added nutrients.
To bring this home to my own grow, I use my own custom-made organic living soil, with added organic fertilizers for macro and micro nutrients, at quantities that I control and experiment with. I also water with a high-N liquid fert with NPK 11-2-4, which also contains Na, Cl, Mg, and Ca. (Note, the Na and Cl are not in the form of sodium chloride, i.e. "salt," but are free-floating ions.)
My analysis of all this is... if you can build your own soil, then you can give it NPK values close to the ideal, and then add liquid fert only enough to maintain those levels. When going into flower, more P & K can be given, and less N (1-3-3 instead of 3-1-1). This is the ideal for a true soil grow, as opposed to a coco-type grow which is closer to hydroponic.
My next step is to determine the NPK of my soil mix, by having it tested at a lab.
Happy growing!
greenjeans
Well-Known Member
Darn - that's what I'm attempting to grow - they just won't!!
- Thread starter
- #55
Apparently it is. I guess Autoflowers are easily stressed and will stunt if stressed in certain ways. I don't know if this is true and I was kind of calling BS on that before but after my experience maybe it's true. I think maybe if you don't have a lot of experience with Autos, you should plant the seed in their final pot and not try to transplant them from smaller pots.
My plants are in a sort of suspended animation and I don't know what to do with them. They of course aren't growing any more but the buds aren't growing anymore either and the trichomes don't seem to be ripening at all. For any Autos experts out there what could I do for these to get them to harvest?
cbdhemp808
Well-Known Member
Somewhat related to this thread: Any way to make autoflower mature faster?
CelestialNurseries
Well-Known Member
I wonder why the hell anyone grows these god awful autos in the first place...
- Thread starter
- #58
I got some free seeds at the last Indo Expo I went to. I decided to try 3 seeds. My biggest mistake is I transplanted them into my Sohum Living Soil. I should have planted the seeds in just some regular cheap potting soil in 2 gal pots, especially if this is as big as they were going to grow. The rest of my plants are photos.
latewood
Well-Known Member
Hello again. It has been a few weeks. How are your "autos" coming around?
- Thread starter
- #60
So the smallest one the Chocolate Skunk I chopped and hung about a week ago. It is literally the size of one small cola. It’s a joke. The other one (Sole-Mate) is about ready to be chopped. It’s about double the size but still ridiculously small. I’m just looking at them as failed experiments. I may try to grow a couple of more seeds sown directly in these same pots for the remainder of the summer. We still have hot weather until November so I think I have time to pop a couple of more seeds. If it does get too cold I have a south facing windowsill which gets plenty of direct sun.