First Grow Advice

Hi this is my first grow 1x Cindy Auto (far left corner) and the rest Mimosa Evo Photo.

All at day 26 (except the seedling).

When I put them in 5gallon pots I didn't put enough soul in, some look around 3 gallon maybe. A few newbie questions....

Can I trim some lower leaves?

Can I repot? Or at least add more soil to fill the pots up, maybe underneath?

Should I top these now? They seem very stocky and not tall.

What training methods would suit these best?

Ps, they seem pale but it's my camera and the 900w led bar, they are a nice dark green.

nomad418 said:

Hi this is my first grow 1x Cindy Auto (far left corner) and the rest Mimosa Evo Photo.

All at day 26 (except the seedling).

When I put them in 5gallon pots I didn't put enough soul in, some look around 3 gallon maybe. A few newbie questions....

Can I trim some lower leaves?

Can I repot? Or at least add more soil to fill the pots up, maybe underneath?

Should I top these now? They seem very stocky and not tall.

What training methods would suit these best?

Ps, they seem pale but it's my camera and the 900w led bar, they are a nice dark green.

Click to expand...

Nice looking setup except I don't see a fan for air movement.

Your plants need to grow at this point. That means no to repotting, getting leaves plucked, etc. Let them grow.

nomad418 said:

Hi this is my first grow 1x Cindy Auto (far left corner) and the rest Mimosa Evo Photo.

All at day 26 (except the seedling).

When I put them in 5gallon pots I didn't put enough soul in, some look around 3 gallon maybe. A few newbie questions....

Can I trim some lower leaves?

Can I repot? Or at least add more soil to fill the pots up, maybe underneath?

Should I top these now? They seem very stocky and not tall.

What training methods would suit these best?

Ps, they seem pale but it's my camera and the 900w led bar, they are a nice dark green.

Click to expand...

All looking nice and healthy there. Well done.

I used to prune much more then I do now. You are better off tucking the big fan leaves where possible instead of removing them. They are going to convert the magic so leave them well alone.

You should familiarise yourself with supercropping. Increases yields greatly. This process can also be applied to the stems of the leaves themselves to keep them on the plant but where you want them to minimise the shade they give to lower buds. It basically gives you a more controlled tuck.

You could look at lollipopping the lower branches around 2 weeks before you plan on starting to flower them. Maybe keep these cutting as clones to save the phenotypes in case you end up with dynamite and want to grow it again. Be sure to keep track of the mother's & their cuttings here so you learn the phenos properly and get wiser as to what you want to keep. It's facsinating seeing the differences between them even within the one strain and learning them. You can then eventually know a strain very well and be able to expect a particular growth pattern.

Air movement as NotTheRobot said is vital. That movement will strengthen stems and keep better quality air for the plants to utilise. During flower it will keep mould at bay and this is enemy number 1 you want to prevent. Maybe look at a couple of corner bar clipped oscillating fans as they should minimise shade from them for your canopy. Air advise applies to all but cuttings / lollipopping and super cropping doesn't apply to the auto you have, just the photos. I wouldn't repot yet, they are too small for the amount of soil you have. As a general rule the plant mirrors it's volume below with roots so wait till you have at least a plant the same size as your pot before potting up. With the auto maybe make that it's final pot, with the photos maybe look at potting up to its final pot around two weeks from flower so they are established before you flip them.

For training the photos I use a combination of lst and supercropping. I generally don't lollipop as I force the plant very low and that way get the canopy low and an even amount of light to bottom buds too. With the autos just lst them. Any high stress training (pruning branches / topping) with an auto wouldn't be recommended imo.

Ultimately you want to create your own style and techniques. There are plenty of correct ways to do this and you'll find lots of conflicting opinions. Just keep experimenting, try and improve on the previous grow everytime and enjoy the best hobby on planet Earth.

Peace from the Emerald Isle

As the plants grow you can add soil. Don’t add enough soil that the leaves touch it.

If you top dress just add a bit of soil to each top dress and by mid flower you should have a full pot. Are you going to flower 6 5-gal in this tent?

Very clean setup. My suggestion would be to leave plants alone, dont pluck anything that doesnt naturally look about to fall off the plant. At this point, foilar feed water with a little neem oil in it once or twice a week. It will set up a natural pest barrier. You can also add a touch of silica in your foilar spray to make the plants stronger and more undesirable to pests.