Auto flower advice for first timer

Yam

Yam

Active Member
I would transplant if your not in flower yet at 5 weeks. She will be starting to flower any day now being an auto. Just be careful not to disturb the roots or snap any. If done right shock is not an issue. I always use a drop of superthrive when transplanting and never have I seen any shock to my plants. You don' want to get 3 weeks into flower and realize you should have transplanted.
 
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Draker1

Member
Yam said:
I would transplant if your not in flower yet at 5 weeks. She will be starting to flower any day now being an auto. Just be careful not to disturb the roots or snap any. If done right shock is not an issue. I always use a drop of superthrive when transplanting and never have I seen any shock to my plants. You don' want to get 3 weeks into flower and realize you should have transplanted.
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That's how I'm leaning. I had to water it today,, so I'll wait a couple of days and upsize the pot.
Thanks Yam.
 
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Yam

Yam

Active Member
Draker1 said:
That's how I'm leaning. I had to water it today,, so I'll wait a couple of days and upsize the pot.
Thanks Yam.
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Also, you should do some research on air pots. They are awesome with preventing root bound plants.. And very easily transplanted if needed. I use one size start to finish with autos.
 
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Draker1

Member
Yam said:
Also, you should do some research on air pots. They are awesome with preventing root bound plants.. And very easily transplanted if needed. I use one size start to finish with autos.
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I've used the bag type before, but they dry out so quickly here. I'll look into it again.
Thanks for the help.
 
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Yam

Yam

Active Member
Draker1 said:
I've used the bag type before, but they dry out so quickly here. I'll look into it again.
Thanks for the help.
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They do dry quicker. That' why I use vermiculite in my mix.. along with jiffy mix and like 15-20% moisture control soil. I water every 3 - 5 days in air pots
 
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Draker1

Member
Yam said:
They do dry quicker. That' why I use vermiculite in my mix.. along with jiffy mix and like 15-20% moisture control soil. I water every 3 - 5 days in air pots
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All mine are currently in a mix of Strawberry Fields and Ocean Forest. Makes it tricky to know when to add notes, since they already have some in the soil.
 
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Draker1

Member
Draker1 said:
Will do, and thanks again.
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Well, as it turns out it wasn't root bound. I prepped a bigger pot and popped it out and just a few roots were beginning to curl at the bottom, but very sparse.
So, I dropped it back in its old pot. It's 6 weeks old and I was concerned it would spend too much energy growing more roots and might not go into flower.
Am I wrong about that?
I scratched in a little 9-3-0 Bat Guano and watered it in.
I could still up size if needed. Some flowering plants will actually flower more when root bound. I grow a lot of tropicals and have grown pretty much everything but Cannabis, so I'm bound to make a few mistakes.
I've noticed that on my reg. plants (Pure Kush and Green Crack) it's tricky when using liquid nutrients.
They're in either FF or Strawberry fields, both which have nutrients, but a few lower leaves look like the one in the above photo .
I think I'll just change to organic granular, which might make them less likely to be + or -.
 
Yam

Yam

Active Member
I don' know alot about nutrient soil since I grow in co co and I use nutes from week 2 until flush. But my first grow I used ffof and didn' use nutes AT ALL. I only used cal mag and a bloom booster at the end and I let the leaves tell me when the cal ag was needed. The guano probaby did you some good and may have boosted it some but in nutrient rich soil you shouldn' have to worry about adding too much.
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
If she is a fem regular ... Then an up pot will help .
But if she is really an auto then she will transition soon anyways. No matter what you do.

She will stretch more and finalize branching , so don't pull leaves or try to do unnecessary things to her . I WOULD CONSIDER placing pot (as is ) on a drip tray , then put a tomato cage around her and carefully spread branches in cage ..... It will make her shape . Long lanky branches on strains like this ALWAYS will have drooping buds as they mature but with the cage you can help support things.

She will preflower on her own time ... Up potting may not provide much difference at this stage. Autos set up in the first 3 weeks .... That is why you plant them in their final home from the start ... They will grow well in 3 - 5 gallon sizes. It is near time for her to transition- usually around 5-6 . Start a bloom feed around WEEK 2 of flower as it takes initially about 10 days to internally begin the change to flower. AND that's ysually when I begin counting flowering weeks til harvest. Breeder harvest times are estimates ONLY so remember.......... " they are done when they are done. "
 
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Draker1

Member
Yam said:
I don' know alot about nutrient soil since I grow in co co and I use nutes from week 2 until flush. But my first grow I used ffof and didn' use nutes AT ALL. I only used cal mag and a bloom booster at the end and I let the leaves tell me when the cal ag was needed. The guano probaby did you some good and may have boosted it some but in nutrient rich soil you shouldn' have to worry about adding too much.
Click to expand...
Thanks Yam. I'm still getting a few paler leaves at the bottom but the rest is a dark green and I don't want nitro burn.
I'm hoping the guano will take care of it in a few days.
We're supposed to have a heat wave this weekend, in the high 90's or low 100's.
I have a misting fan I may employ, or I'll add daily water even if the pots are not light yet.
I'm watching them closely so hopefully I can head off any issues.
Funny thing is I'm a one puff wonder, and am growing it more for the challenge than for the end results.
Friends tell me it's about finding the right strain for your system, so I keep trying different ones.
Or maybe it just doesn't blend well with beer, which is my preferred buzz.
Thanks again for the help.
 
D

Draker1

Member
Budzbuddha said:
If she is a fem regular ... Then an up pot will help .
But if she is really an auto then she will transition soon anyways. No matter what you do.

She will stretch more and finalize branching , so don't pull leaves or try to do unnecessary things to her . I WOULD CONSIDER placing pot (as is ) on a drip tray , then put a tomato cage around her and carefully spread branches in cage ..... It will make her shape . Long lanky branches on strains like this ALWAYS will have drooping buds as they mature but with the cage you can help support things.

She will preflower on her own time ... Up potting may not provide much difference at this stage. Autos set up in the first 3 weeks .... That is why you plant them in their final home from the start ... They will grow well in 3 - 5 gallon sizes. It is near time for her to transition- usually around 5-6 . Start a bloom feed around WEEK 2 of flower as it takes initially about 10 days to internally begin the change to flower. AND that's ysually when I begin counting flowering weeks til harvest. Breeder harvest times are estimates ONLY so remember.......... " they are done when they are done. "
Click to expand...
Thanks Budz. She's in a 2.5 gallon pot (I think) and not root bound yet. Slight smell but no buds at 6 weeks.
Tall and a little sparse with some new growth coming.
We'll see what happens I guess.
If I transplant now won't she spend more energy growing roots when she should be starting to flower?
That's why I decided to leave her be, since she's not root bound now.
 
Budzbuddha

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Some autos will not utilize some containers full size. They have a limited veg stage so once it roots whether with enough space or not she will flower when it is time.

She will be fine... I grew them in 1 gallon grow bags with enough rooting.
There are a few guys on here growing great plants in smaller sizes ... It saves wasting medium that will not fully used.

image.jpeg image.jpeg

One way I grew larger autos in small containers were like this .......

This a HEMPY STYLE GROW ( Perlite / Vermiculite mix 3:1 ) in a KIDS SAND PAIL.
It was under CFL at the time when I was growing that way back some years ago.
It actually grew pretty well for what it was , but Hempy grows really roots out better than soil. You know EXACTLY when she is dry and feeding is idiot proof as you can never overwater it .
I moved on to QUANTUMS but growing with spirals were a bit fun once I got it dialed.

image.jpeg
 
D

Draker1

Member
Budzbuddha said:
Some autos will not utilize some containers full size. They have a limited veg stage so once it roots whether with enough space or not she will flower when it is time.

She will be fine... I grew them in 1 gallon grow bags with enough rooting.
There are a few guys on here growing great plants in smaller sizes ... It saves wasting medium that will not fully used.

View attachment 4160297 View attachment 4160298

One way I grew larger autos in small containers were like this .......

This a HEMPY STYLE GROW ( Perlite / Vermiculite mix 3:1 ) in a KIDS SAND PAIL.
It was under CFL at the time when I was growing that way back some years ago.
It actually grew pretty well for what it was , but Hempy grows really roots out better than soil. You know EXACTLY when she is dry and feeding is idiot proof as you can never overwater it .
I moved on to QUANTUMS but growing with spirals were a bit fun once I got it dialed.

View attachment 4160299
Click to expand...
They look pretty healthy. Hope mine can hang. I'll update photo tomorrow.
Thanks
 
D

Draker1

Member
Update on my White Widow auto. I have something going on with the bottom leaves and hope someone can advise me.
Yesterday I fed it a 1/4 strength solution of Dr. Earth's 2-6-4 just to help it move into flower.
The leaf problem was already there in the last few days.
The rest of the plant is green and healthy but this might keep going up if I don't intervene.
 
D

Draker1

Member
IMG_20180718_100434289.jpg
Yam said:
My first thought would be calmag def. Or ph issue
Good luck
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Yeah, I did hit with a little CalMag. I also started Ping the water. Prior to that I was using hose water, with a high (8.5) ph.
Probably locked out the mag uptake. I also just repotted it at 7 weeks, although it wasn't really rootbound.. No ill effects and it has a bit more room.
It's close to 4" tall now.
Thanks for the advice Yam.
 
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