My Babies are sad! Autoflowers w/pics

[Krazymastro]

Hey Guys,

I’m starting a new closet grow, I'm a first timer with AK47 and lemon 60 auto seeds. I got a 600w LED viperspectra in a 2x3 row space. It’s about 28 inches(just backed it off from about 22) from the top of the plants which are in 5 gal smart pots, just transplanted 3 days ago using Ocean Forest/Black Gold/earthworm castings/and hydroton to cover the top of the soil. It’s about day 18 from planting the seed directly in the small pots (I didn't germinate so I'm having trouble figuring out what day I'm actually at). Temp about 77-81 humidity 48-67% They seem a bit small and malnourished but what do you guys think? Haven’t fed them yet as they are looking a bit sad. I water them every 3 days or so. PH around 6.5. Check out the pics, let me know what you guys think.

 

[GBAUTO]

Hey, Krazy!(gotta love that)
I'm not a soil grower but it looks like they are hungry. As your probably aware, when I start seedling it seems like they are not thriving but in reality, they are working on their root system. I'd continue supportive care(water, nutes, lights) and just wait-I bet they take off.

 

[Krazymastro]

Hey, Krazy!(gotta love that)
I'm not a soil grower but it looks like they are hungry. As your probably aware, when I start seedling it seems like they are not thriving but in reality, they are working on their root system. I'd continue supportive care(water, nutes, lights) and just wait-I bet they take off.

Thanks for the response GBAUTO, I hope you are right! So, I know you said you don't use soil, but I have fox farm nuts, cal-mag, and Epson salts, should I start feeding them now? I've heard you should wait to feed them, especially since I have them in the nutrient rich soil.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Fox Farm will carry it for up to 5 weeks of growth. It is a little hotter than other soils but as plant ADJUSTS it will move forward. Autos hate stress ... But you are only a leaf set or two in , so it will take off on its own.

I don't know your light schedule but stick to one all the way thru.
I like 18/6 - some do 20/4 or even 24/0.
If dry ... ONLY water " around " plant LIGHTLY.
No need to drench entire container at this time.

Vipar - KEEP BOTH SWITCHES ON - all the way thru harvest.

Hydroton could have been left out ...my 2 ¢

 

[Dynamo626]

You are watering way to often. A seedling in a solo cup dosnt get watered that often. Water to run off then wait untill the pot is dry. May take 10 days for a plant that small. Next time if you add hydroten to the top wait untill the plant is well established. Fyi they look over fed. Ffof can be a bit to hot for some seedlings then add worm castings.......

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Just curious - why do people put hydroton on top of soil? (Sorry in advance for the newbie question)

 

[Dynamo626]

lessens the amount of evaporation from the soil

 

[mickey oneil]

They look over-fed to me. FF tends to run hot, so you shouldn’t need anything for at least 4-5 wks...so no, don’t add nutes just yet imo; I would, however, add calmag to every watering. Also, are you using tap water?

The first couple of pictures look bad, but the second two aren’t bad off imo.

 

[cjsbabygirl313]

Ah ... I see, thank you (I do hydro).

 

[ANC]

I simply use cannabis roots as mulch. also keeps tops moist, but even some plastic placed loosely on the surface keep it moist.
I prefer my indoor pots to dry out fast though.

 

[Krazymastro]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for all the great responses. So here's the update! I found out that I was running the wrong light on my Viperspectra LED 600, I had them under a Bloom light (facepalm). I took BUDZ advice and flipped them both on, the room temp is running a bit hot (84 deg tops), but I don't have an exhaust system and turning the fan up I think will be a bit too much stress on the plants.

After backing the light off I noticed the leaves aren't pointed down anymore. I also didn't see this thread before I fed the big plant (big bloom and calmeg at about half strength), while the little plant I just fed water that I've been filtering through a large brita (It knocks down the PH and seems to remove some of the additives). It's a bit hard for me to determine when to water as I put my finger in most of the time and it feels dry. The soil monitor doesn't help at this point either as I'm not watering the entire pot and don't want to dig the prongs near the new roots. Anyways I've been keeping the PH between 5.5 and 6.5 so hopefully, the tiny guy will pull through, I will back off the watering to every 5-7 days or so, (and maybe wait to feed for another 2 weeks) maybe that will help? I will keep you guys updated as I move along.

Also, if anyone has any guess as to which plant is which that would be helpful. My thought is the larger plant is the 60 day lemon but I don't know for sure. One last thing, they are supposed to be female seeds but something tells me I still need to watch out for males. Does anyone have any insight on female seeds bought online, is this a myth? Are they always female or do males slip through the cracks? Are either of these old enough to distinguish sex? Thanks again for all the help, you guys are the best!

 

[Dynamo626]

Your fine at 84

 

[NanoGadget]

I recommend getting some extraction going on. Air exchange is super important and it only gets more so as your plants get bigger and are doing more transpiration.

 

[psblunt]

Those last two pics look nice, nice stems, they also look female. At least that last two pics. Do you have update pics? I started mine about same time

 

[Krazymastro]

Hey guys,

Here’s the update, my strong one stayed really strong! Looking good! I LST’d it and have 5-6 really strong colas and a few smaller ones, I’d say about an eighth/quarter on each cola so far.
The other one is struggling a lot, it was almost dead for a while then I took out the LST and repotted with some more Fox Farm Ocean Forrest and it seemed to save them both (they were both reported since they both looked really sluggish looking with downward facing sad leafs) The one weird thing about this smaller baby is the soil seems to be really hard even after repot. The smart pots were both hard to get the water to seep to the bottom, so I started put about a gallon and a half of PH bt 6.5-5.5 water and no nutes since I wasn’t sure if I was over or under doing anything. Now when I put the soil monitor in, it says it’s really wet at the bottom 4 days after water (when I first put it in it’s wet, but then it balances out to the middle after a minute) so maybe I need to find a balance of how much water to give it but it still doesn’t explain how hard the soil is. So it’s looking like I’m gojng to need to give it some calmeg, as they are discolored like a fall leaf brown on both plants, but what do you guys think? I doubt the small one will yeild anything substantial but I’m hoping the big one looks on pace despite the hickups. Glad I went with auto flowers as I just kept them under the led for 24 hrs since seedling and they are budding nicely after only two months. Not too much work for a first timer! So if I said anything dumb please forgive/correct me. (Preferably with an insult)