Thanks Emilya! This post is really helpful. I saw somewhere that you recommend starting autos in solo cups. That would be new for me but I’d like to try. Do you mind if I ask a few questions?
How different is the watering process in the solo cup from the one posted here? Can you explain your solo cup watering for autos? When is the best time to transplant? Can you explain the pause and when it happens? And no/little water or nutes during pause . Correct?
Thank you for your time and dedication to supporting this community!
Hi Will! I would be happy to answer your questions here, but also be advised that I wrote more extensively about the ideas I am going to present here, in my original watering article,
The Proper Way To Water A Potted Plant
I invite you to read the entire thread, which halfway through explains a new concept... how to water in bloom.
To properly water a solo cup, you employ a completely different method than described here. In a small container like a solo cup, you have the advantage of being able to start a strong wet/dry cycle almost immediately, forcing your roots to grow rapidly in that confined space. I have no different watering method for Autos for I believe that they are simply a plant like any other plant, and have the same needs as their photoperiod cousins.
While you wait for your planted seed to come up, you should keep the cup fairly moist. I spray the top surface 2 or 3 times a day, the theory being that I am giving the life supporting water that the seed needs to wake up, and that with gravity pulling that surface water down toward the bottom, that water flow is also showing the new roots where to go. When the seedling finally reaches the surface, it is time to stop supplying so much water, and instead challenge your new plant to use up all of the water you have already supplied. You goal is to wait to water that solo cup fully, until the plant has been able to use almost all of the water in that cup. Knowing that the plant and its roots are tiny at first, I do cheat a bit by giving just a small amount of water every day at first, and then every other day, but no where near the amount that the cup of soil could hold, but just a few drips down the center of the stalk so that water falls down to the bottom, again, showing the new roots how to get to the bottom of the cup.
I am waiting for the cup to get pretty darn light that first time, before I soak that soil the first time to runoff. I forgive the young plant for not being able to drain all of the water the first time, but the cup should be significantly lighter than it was when the plant first came up and the soil was soaked. This process usually takes 4-5 days.
By this time the plant will have its second set of leaves coming in and it can really start using the water rapidly and you should no longer be giving extra water down the middle. Where it took the plant 4-5 days the first time to convince you to water it, the next time it is going to drain that cup in about 3 days. This time, the cup will be as light as a feather by the time you water, and you will be amazed how healthy the plant looks in such super dry soil. Congratulations... you have just started a strong wet/dry cycle and the roots are now capable of draining the cup.
You want to keep the plant in this constricted space until it can show you that it needs more room. The next wet/dry cycle will even be shorter and with rapidly growing Autos I am going to recommend uppotting to a container 3x bigger when the plant is finally able to drain
all the water you can get that soil to hold, in 2 days.
The problem with Autos is that usually stall about this time. Since you are carefully monitoring the water usage by picking up the cup and feeling its weight, you will be able to see the plant stall out. All of a sudden, it is not going to use water as fast as it previously was. It might stall out and not use the water in that cup for almost a week. Since you know there is water (and nutes if you have already used them) in that cup, you will not water during that stall week. Be patient, and make that plant work for a living... do not water again until she earns it.
It is my theory that in an Auto, the Ruderalis gene tells the plant to start out life a little differently than its tropical cousins. It is colder up north where they come from, and it makes sense that a hardy plant prepared for harsh conditions would have learned to develop strong roots down below, before starting to rapidly grow the top half that is above soil and in the elements. This I think is the explanation of the pause... its not really paused down in the root area... you just cant see what is happening. The plant is building up energy for a rapid push in about a week, no matter the conditions and weather up above.
So once the wet/dry cycle starts up again, you will rapidly get to the point where the plant is draining that water in 2 days or less, and then and only then, is it time to uppot. Once you get in the larger container, water the new soil to saturation (runoff) to merge the two soil regions together, and the wet/dry cycle will expand back out to 7-11 days. It is very important not to overwater during this time by thinking it needs extra water. Be patient, and force the plant to expand its roots into the new wet soil to find all of that water. Once the plant earns it, by draining all of that water, water to runoff again and note how the wet/dry cycle is already shrinking. When the very rapidly growing Auto can drain that new container in 2 days, repeat the process and put her in her final container.
Maintain a strong wet/dry cycle all through veg and for another week after seeing your first pistil. After that, you should have established what your wet/dry cycle is in that final container, hopefully 3 days or so, and then in bloom, start watering a bit earlier, like every 2 days. Let her dry out a bit more every 4th watering or so, but try to be consistent and stick with the cycle she has established, but just a little early, so you keep the soil more moist than you did in veg. In veg you use the lack of water as a tool to force the plant to grow new roots, but when you get to bloom, you change modes, and use those roots you carefully developed to force more water into the plant so it can grow bigger buds.
I hope this helps. Please read the other article to get the basics of the wet/dry cycle concept down, as well as how to migrate micro soil particles around in your container. Feel free to ask any other questions that come up. Good luck!
Hopefully …..following your advise, better days ahead!