What could be wrong with my plants?

[nufan1121]

Please can any veterans help a new grower out?
I'm growing two different strains both autoflowers 1 x Solomatic RQS and the other 1 x Northern Lights RQS.
They are growing in a 120cm space tote with the following:
Equipment:

• 40/60 mix of Gro-Sure Perlite, 10 L and Westland Compost Multipurpose with added john Innes and Enriched with BIO3 - 60L
• 1 x USB humidifier EXTSUD Humidifiers 500ml Cool Mist Humidifier Air Humidifier Whisper Quiet Humidifiers with Night Light, Waterless Auto-Off, Up to 10-16 Hours Continu
• 1 x small space heater placed on the outside so heat comes in through the installed side PC fans HDCooL Space Heater, 1500W/750W Portable Ceramic Space Heater with Adjustable Thermostat and Tip-Over & Overheating Protection, PTC Heating Fan Heater
• 2 x PLANT !T 11L 3gals Square Base Dirt Pot without Handle
• 2 x silent PC fans on low mode (one intake one exhaust) AC Infinity MULTIFAN S7, Quiet Dual 120mm USB Fan, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR Playstation Xbox Computer Cabinet Cooling
• 1 x 300w blurple grow light VIPARSPECTRA 300W LED Grow Light, Full Spectrum Plant Growing lamps for Indoor Plants Veg and Flower

Symptoms:
This is my first grow to get this far, my previous grow used garden topsoil and was a mess, the seedlings never made it past 2 weeks. This time, i though i did everything the 'correct' way following a mix of all of the advice i had read and i'm frustrated with the progress both plants at the three week stage and look like they wont grow much bigger/are stunted.
I purposely did not add any nutrients to the grow medium for the first 3 weeks as i had read not to do so. I have Ph the water to 6 using test strips and Nortembio Agro Organic pH Reducer 1L. Universal Use. Descaler for Irrigation Systems. Better Flavour and Aroma to your Crops.
I have bluetooth temperature monitors and a moisture guage to make sure the temp never goes lower than 20'c or higher than 26'c and the humidity is always between 55% - 75%.
As i only have the two stacked totes to work with, the plant is about 24 inches give or take away from the LED light.

Am i doing something obviously wrong here? Is this expected with such a cheap setup? I just want my plants to make it to flower and take to harvest for the first time. I'm trying my best to learn the basics and i can improve my equipment moving forward, but this setup should be producing something right? Am i being impatient and paranoid about the grow progress or justified?


Solomatic CBD Seedling day 2

Northern Lights Seedling day 2

Northern Lights day 22

Solomatic day 19

Northern Lights day 22 - side view

Solomatic day 19 - side view

 

[osowhom]

my opinion you started in way to big of a pot should have used solo cups until you had a good rootball the plant is having a hard time rooting plus the light is garbage put it like 6 inches above them

 

[go go kid]

nothing

 

[go go kid]

Every once in a while, growers will run into a “trileaf” seedling. This is a relatively common mutation, and you’re likely to run into it if you germinate a lot of cannabis seeds. 3-leaf cannabis seedlings should generally be treated like any other seedling.

They will grow about 1/3 more side branches than regular seedlings, so a 3-leaf seedling might be a good candidate for cannabis plant training or a ScrOG setup.

 

[go go kid]

Please can any veterans help a new grower out?
I'm growing two different strains both autoflowers 1 x Solomatic RQS and the other 1 x Northern Lights RQS.
They are growing in a 120cm space tote with the following:
Equipment:

• 40/60 mix of Gro-Sure Perlite, 10 L and Westland Compost Multipurpose with added john Innes and Enriched with BIO3 - 60L
• 1 x USB humidifier EXTSUD Humidifiers 500ml Cool Mist Humidifier Air Humidifier Whisper Quiet Humidifiers with Night Light, Waterless Auto-Off, Up to 10-16 Hours Continu
• 1 x small space heater placed on the outside so heat comes in through the installed side PC fans HDCooL Space Heater, 1500W/750W Portable Ceramic Space Heater with Adjustable Thermostat and Tip-Over & Overheating Protection, PTC Heating Fan Heater
• 2 x PLANT !T 11L 3gals Square Base Dirt Pot without Handle
• 2 x silent PC fans on low mode (one intake one exhaust) AC Infinity MULTIFAN S7, Quiet Dual 120mm USB Fan, UL-Certified for Receiver DVR Playstation Xbox Computer Cabinet Cooling
• 1 x 300w blurple grow light VIPARSPECTRA 300W LED Grow Light, Full Spectrum Plant Growing lamps for Indoor Plants Veg and Flower

Symptoms:
This is my first grow to get this far, my previous grow used garden topsoil and was a mess, the seedlings never made it past 2 weeks. This time, i though i did everything the 'correct' way following a mix of all of the advice i had read and i'm frustrated with the progress both plants at the three week stage and look like they wont grow much bigger/are stunted.
I purposely did not add any nutrients to the grow medium for the first 3 weeks as i had read not to do so. I have Ph the water to 6 using test strips and Nortembio Agro Organic pH Reducer 1L. Universal Use. Descaler for Irrigation Systems. Better Flavour and Aroma to your Crops.
I have bluetooth temperature monitors and a moisture guage to make sure the temp never goes lower than 20'c or higher than 26'c and the humidity is always between 55% - 75%.
As i only have the two stacked totes to work with, the plant is about 24 inches give or take away from the LED light.

Am i doing something obviously wrong here? Is this expected with such a cheap setup? I just want my plants to make it to flower and take to harvest for the first time. I'm trying my best to learn the basics and i can improve my equipment moving forward, but this setup should be producing something right? Am i being impatient and paranoid about the grow progress or justified?


Solomatic CBD Seedling day 2

Northern Lights Seedling day 2

Northern Lights day 22

Solomatic day 19

Northern Lights day 22 - side view

Solomatic day 19 - side view

Solomatic day 19 - side view , im going to go out on a limb and say thats a female, females are buisy males are lazy. very nice. and do scrog or screen of green your tri leafed plant if you can, it will amaze you.

 

[nufan1121]

Hi osowhom,

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate the LED light i have chosen to start with was a cheap solution so i will definitely try putting the light closer. Would you be able to point me in the right direction to an LED light of similar cost area which would be an improvement? I went with LED as a lot of articles and forums that i read mentioned that LED is a better options to go with when using a space bucket due to it's low heat output and the area i have to work with.

 

[Jeffislovinlife]

Give them some time to get there starting off in that big of a pot take time to get the roots set you could start in smaller pots and transplant as always thank you for your time and the best of luck

 

[nufan1121]

Hi go go kid,

Thanks for the information. My concern is mainly with the size of the plants after the x days they have been planted for and also the color and size of new growth (particularly beneath the already established leaves at the tops). I may be overreacting, but all the youtube videos and pictures i see in grow diaries look way more impressive than my grow here and i guess i'm frustrated and scared it will be another waste of time and subsequently will have to start all over again.

I'm not expected ridiculous yields given i'm using a space bucket, but do they look healthy enough to make it through veg in your opinion?

 

[nufan1121]

Hi Jeffislovinlife

Thank you so much for the advice. Yeah i did think they were too big when i was setting it all up, but the advice i kept reading online was to not transplant autoflowers if possible as they don't have adequate time to recover from the stress it causes. Very confusing mix of advice out there for new guys like me

In future would you advise that i grow in a smaller plot and then transplant to these pots once the root system has established?

 

[go go kid]

Hi go go kid,

Thanks for the information. My concern is mainly with the size of the plants after the x days they have been planted for and also the color and size of new growth (particularly beneath the already established leaves at the tops). I may be overreacting, but all the youtube videos and pictures i see in grow diaries look way more impressive than my grow here and i guess i'm frustrated and scared it will be another waste of time and subsequently will have to start all over again.

I'm not expected ridiculous yields given i'm using a space bucket, but do they look healthy enough to make it through veg in your opinion?

the 3 leaves is a mutation, i love mutants. as to your other questions, jeff has answered that nicely, patience pays dividens. it is producing much new growth, when the new growth is big enough, try tucking the larger leaves ynder the new growth and the new growth will get much needed light and the plant should take off nicely. happy growing.

oh and you mean an oxy pot, there great butyou will need to change out the nutrients offten as your new, KEEP IT SIMPLE to start with and you will learn much

 

[Jeffislovinlife]

Ok I've have no experience in growing auto go go kids skills are on point as far as I can tell and @Wizzlebiz is a good source of information @Doug Dawson would be great if you could help out as always thank you for your time and help

 

[Jeffislovinlife]

O ya by the way welcome to Riu and the best of luck with your grow

 

[Wizzlebiz]

Good morning. I believe its one of 2 things going on.

Either its heat stressed or its got nitrogen overload.

I say this due to the cupping of the leaves on the northern light pic.

I dont think its the light. I dont see any stretching. However that light probably won't do well to help speed it up or get you far during flower.

Unfortunately you have lost time. Lost time on autos is lost yield.

 

[nufan1121]

@Wizzlebiz thank you for the additional information. I have kept my temperatures between 20'c and 26'c as recommend on almost every site i come across. Is there any way i can fix the damage that's been done? I don't mind about a huge yield for my first completed grow, i just want to get something for the time i'm putting into it.

Should i move them closer to the light? Is there any way i can test for nitrogen levels?

 

[Wizzlebiz]

I dont know the medium you are using. But so many mediums that are nutrient rich out of the bag are to rich for a seedling. If the soil is to nutrient rich or what we call hot it will slow a seedling down to a crawl.

Id just let it continue on at this point. But if you have more auto seeds I suggest either starting in a solo cup next time with a seedling mix or make the top 25% of the soil you put in your pot should be a seedling mix so it can not be overloaded. Once it grows enough roots it will reach the hotter soil and be able to handle it.

 

[19-Sean-86]

Hi osowhom,

Thank you for the reply. I appreciate the LED light i have chosen to start with was a cheap solution so i will definitely try putting the light closer. Would you be able to point me in the right direction to an LED light of similar cost area which would be an improvement? I went with LED as a lot of articles and forums that i read mentioned that LED is a better options to go with when using a space bucket due to it's low heat output and the area i have to work with.

Put the viparspectra 24 inches above plant. I use viparspectra LEDs they never go closer than 12 inches and that's in flower. The big pot isn't the problem either I just started auto's in a big pots and this is my plants day 16 from sprouting.

 

[nufan1121]

@Wizzlebiz thank you for the kind advice. I'm in the UK and i apologise for so many questions to you, but could you please advise what better medium of soil/compost may have been to use next time? I've come this far, i'd rather not keep using a crappy medium and learn from my mistakes. I want to stick with soil as the whole advanced Ph monitoring with hydroponics or coco is kind of off putting for me currently.

 

[dbz]

I really liked what i did last time for starting using clear cups inside colored cups, then you can pull them out and see rooting progress and moisture content.

 

[nufan1121]

@19-Sean-86 thank you so much for responding regarding the viparspectra! I have put the light as far as i can from the plant given the area i have available, i don't have an exact measurement right now (i can definitely get one later) but the total size of the two totes stacked is 120cm and the plant is right at the bottom and the light is attached to the top.

Those flowers look amazing, that's how i want my flowers to look!

 

[nufan1121]

@dbz

Thank you for responding to the thread. Ironically, this is exactly what i did on my very first attempt about a month or so ago but my plants really suffered and i read a lot online about not using clear cups as root don't like any light and it can stunt growth. Although, in my specific situation in the previous attempt i mentioned i believe it was more related to the 'topsoil' i was using rather than the cup or anything else, as changing the soil in this latest attempt has got my plants further, i'm just still not quite there