Please Help...Plants are very Disappointing...

This is my second attempt to grow autoflowers...currently growing, La Diva, SAD, and Cream Caramel...They are in gallon pots in an enclosure that is around 2 cubic feet, have 190 CFM fan pulling air through to carbon filter, and lighting is a 150 Watt HPS...which is what I was told was perfect for the size box I have...the soil mixture is Pro-mix veggie and flower with added water crystals and some used coffee grinds for added Nitrogen...plants are given liquid nutes every other watering, about every 8 or 9 days... I am about 2 weeks from harvest...Am very disappointed with the outcome of these plants... I would be extremely impressed if they produced more than and eighth per plant...They are about seven inches tall and have lots of branches for budding but everything is so terribly small...I tried growing a Roadrunner auto last time in a different box under just 3 CFL's, produced about the same...I was instructed to get the 150 watt HPS bulb to increase plant size and yield, was told I would harvest about an ounce from each plant...Again I AM VERY VERY DISAPPOINTED... Does anyone have any idea what is going on with these little fuckers? Pics available upon request, will try to answer any questions about environment to the best of my knowledge...any help would be appreciated...become so disappointed with the outcome, thinking about stopping growing all together cause it's not worth my time or effort...Please Advise...

i am having good results with my auto under just cfls.if i had to guess i would say you need a bigger pot bro.i use 3 gal pots and they work well.and alot of thing come into play,did you ever transplant ect. autos are very acceptible to stress. but i think you should probably use a pot bigger than 1 gal.there is a dude on here that uses 5 gal buckets and his autos are always massive.sorry for the bad turn out man.

You know I thought that might be an issue, but the one that was grown under just the CFL's was in a three gallon pot and it still only produced about a quarter... You think trimming would play a major issue in this problem? I would try using bigger pots, but I don't have the room in my grow box for anything that big, possibly a 2 gallon pot, but I'm not sure...

have you been trimming or do you plan on trimming? if you have already trimmed it may play a part im not sure,i just try and get them as big as possible.i figure 1 plant that can produce an oz is better than 4 plant that produce an oz.The berry auto i got wasnt supposed to be that big but it turned out to be about 3 ft tall.maybe you should consider building a new grow box.I built mine and it looks like an intertainment center for under 50 bucks.I would also research the strain they may be low producers.from what ive read the auto ak is a great yealding plant, good luck brother.im sure if you look around you can find a grower that knows more than i do.There are a few auto veterans on here if you look for em.

Yeah...got some amount of insight...light might not be close enough...and yes I did trim them down (lollipop style) but only a couple of days ago, not sure it made much of a difference so late into their grow cycle...

got pics?? there are many reasons you could end up with small autos from stress to just a small dwarf pheno, but out of 3 strains that should not be the case for all...
so causes of small plants how many apply??
overwatred
underwatered
overfed
underfed
not enough light
light to far away
to small of pots
plants topped
# of hours lights on 24/0, 20/4, 18/6
temp. to high
temp. to low
I could go on and on.. so need more info...if I had to guess one or more things stressed them out when they were small and they went into bud before they grew up some.. right after they start budding every auto I have had have starts a huge growth spurt 2-4 days after they 1st. showed sex, literary growing 2-3 times there size in the next 7-10 days as it start budding, then they all but stop vertical growth and get fat with buds till harvest...
if for some reason they get stressed in that 7-10days and don't get to have there growth spurt they just bud and never get any taller.. smaller plants=less bud..

yes pics would help. the pot size shouldnt be a big issue. i have dwarf plants in 1 gal bags and their 14-24 inches tall and im at day 35. what liquid nutes you using and why add coffee grounds to soil? if your using chem nutes, the coffee will lower ph and there are so many other things you can use for added N. pics would help though.

Plants are watered every 3 to 4 days, pots are very light when watering, so not overwatered, have water crystals in soil, so not likely underwatered... Nutes are added every other watering in increments as specified by container, so don't think over or under fed...Light is perfect for size of grow box, 150 watt HPS for 2 cubic feet. Plants may be too far from light, at about a foot from canopy. Gallon size pots, cause that's all that would fit in box. Plants have NOT been topped or fimmed. Light cycle is 24/0...Temperatures are in low 80's, perfect humidity...Plants were trimmed (lollipop style) about four weeks into flowering...Using Floragrow 7x4x10 for veggie cycle and Kool Bloom 0x10x10 for flowering cycle. Added coffee grinds for added Nitrogen, soil pH is between 5.5 and 6.5, which I believe is correct range...

I'd drop that light a good few inches if it's vented. IMO.

Yeah I moved it earlier today, it's about 3 inches away from the canopy now, but I'm thinking it's probably too late to make a difference...

dragongrower said:

Plants are watered every 3 to 4 days, pots are very light when watering, so not overwatered, have water crystals in soil, so not likely underwatered... Nutes are added every other watering in increments as specified by container, so don't think over or under fed...Light is perfect for size of grow box, 150 watt HPS for 2 cubic feet. Plants may be too far from light, at about a foot from canopy. Gallon size pots, cause that's all that would fit in box. Plants have NOT been topped or fimmed. Light cycle is 24/0...Temperatures are in low 80's, perfect humidity...Plants were trimmed (lollipop style) about four weeks into flowering...Using Floragrow 7x4x10 for veggie cycle and Kool Bloom 0x10x10 for flowering cycle. Added coffee grinds for added Nitrogen, soil pH is between 5.5 and 6.5, which I believe is correct range...

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well, it looks to me like the light is ok for that space, pot size is good and environment controls are good which would leave me to believe the problem is the soil or the strain. i lean more to the soil. i think the coffee may have fucked them up or maybe the water crystals/nutes. to me the small growth looks like lockout or burn but its hard to say. its a bit late in the game to fix things but you can always prepare better for next time.

Do not trim anything off an auto. More light.

ohmy said:

Do not trim anything off an auto. More light.

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i do agree with not trimming but i highly doubt a lack of light is the problem there considering ive seen bigger buds on auto with fluro's, no offense dragon.

What do you use for water? RO, distilled, tap, city or well? I ask cause that looks like water-softener salt in some of the pics.
Salt is not a plants friend.

I've used coffee grinds and the same nutes for the outdoor grow also and never had this problem, so I don't believe that this is the problem, all my friends that grow swear on adding the coffee grinds...However, the water may be an issue, I do use the water out of the tap, which is well water that has been through the water softener...I do have the ability to bring home an unlimited supply of Deionized water to use...Never thought about that being a problem before, you may have something there...I will switch to DI water from now on...

outdoor and indoor in pots are two different worlds. if you wanted too add something for extra N, why not blood meal, guano, worm castings? and the water crystals are overkill for indoors. your plants probably suffered stress from both. ive used coffee grounds in my garden with good results, ive also used it in some potted plants and herbs and had problems.

Gotcha, so no coffee grinds and definitely no water crystals...any problems with using Deionized water for watering?

Just distill or boil the water to evap the chlorine, floride and other BS.

I also wouldnt grow in smaller than a 2 gallon....

What were you expecting from 150w in a 2x2?

dragongrower said:

You know I thought that might be an issue, but the one that was grown under just the CFL's was in a three gallon pot and it still only produced about a quarter... You think trimming would play a major issue in this problem? I would try using bigger pots, but I don't have the room in my grow box for anything that big, possibly a 2 gallon pot, but I'm not sure...

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Some will produce more than otherS.I grew 3 of the same strain in the same size pots and lights and all gave me diffrent yeilds.

3 plants for the 150w of cfl? or do you only grow one at a time