Wasting my time? Please help brethren!!

First time with autos (expert seeds: glueberry auto, cheese auto; royal queen: northern lights auto) and first time with an outdoor grow. I germinated these on 3/12, the beans popped in 4 days or less. But once they sprouted, they just sat there for at least a week with round/false leaves only. We also had a frost up until the middle of April, otherwise I would’ve transplanted earlier. The solo cup pics are from 4/24, the morning when I finally got my plot prepped and hiked everything out. The guerilla pics are from 4/30, yesterday morning. I feel like the growth was really stunted (from the start) when I compare to some other grow journals, and now it appears I have a pest problem and/or a deer ate two fan leaves off one of them...

Am I wasting my time, energy, and potentially risking my freedom and should start germinating again? Or can these ladies be salvaged with some extra TLC? And if so, what are your recommendations (neem oil? Deer repellent? Both? Something entirely different?)?
blessings

medium: fox farm ocean forest, coconut coir, God’s natural dirt (don’t hurt)
Nutes: fox farm trio (half strength) started 4/30

MisterElixir5000 said:

First time with autos (expert seeds: glueberry auto, cheese auto; royal queen: northern lights auto) and first time with an outdoor grow. I germinated these on 3/12, the beans popped in 4 days or less. But once they sprouted, they just sat there for at least a week with round/false leaves only. We also had a frost up until the middle of April, otherwise I would’ve transplanted earlier. The solo cup pics are from 4/24, the morning when I finally got my plot prepped and hiked everything out. The guerilla pics are from 4/30, yesterday morning. I feel like the growth was really stunted (from the start) when I compare to some other grow journals, and now it appears I have a pest problem and/or a deer ate two fan leaves off one of them...

Am I wasting my time, energy, and potentially risking my freedom and should start germinating again? Or can these ladies be salvaged with some extra TLC? And if so, what are your recommendations (neem oil? Deer repellent? Both? Something entirely different?)?
blessings

medium: fox farm ocean forest, coconut coir, God’s natural dirt (don’t hurt)
Nutes: fox farm trio (half strength) started 4/30

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Just wait a little more. I had one that sprouted with the round leaves only. It started to grow a.few days later. Little by little.

Then again I had one that grew deformed. I'll take a pic let me.smoke quick

The deformed little one is the same age as the biggest ones. I planted them March 30.

Backyardboogy562 said:

The deformed little one is the same age as the biggest ones. I planted them March 30.

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Yeah, I had 5 and tossed 2 because they looked like the little deformed one. I’ve seen grow journals at 3 weeks (or even earlier) with the same strain, from the same breeder, at the same amount of vegetative growth I have after 45 days. I should be in flower by now and I’m okay waiting as long as I can get a decent harvest. My main things are: 1) if I should hike out to my spot twice weekly (Vertical 20-30 hike with 4 gallons of water = time + effort + risk), or should I just let it go by itself with frequent rains and good soil? 2) what pest(s) are currently affecting my plants right now and what to do if these ladies are worth messing with? I am suspecting some type of insect for the holes and a deer (saw tracks around) for the 2 whole missing fan leaves, except about half their stem.

thanks for your reply

I would only give them water if it hasnt rained for a few days and doesnt look like its going to rain in the next day or two. They are getting eaten pretty bad. Wouldnt put a ton of effort into it because you probably wont get much yield no matter what you do.

JoeBlow5823 said:

I would only give them water if it hasnt rained for a few days and doesnt look like its going to rain in the next day or two. They are getting eaten pretty bad. Wouldnt put a ton of effort into it because you probably wont get much yield no matter what you do.

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Thanks for the response. Do you mind explaining why you think they won’t yield much? I don’t like giving up on anything unless there’s a good reason. I was hoping to hear otherwise, like the plants just were put on pause and would just extend the entire length of the grow by a week or two, and not take away/lose a week or two. I haven’t seen any pistols or signs of pre-flower yet, so my thoughts/hopes were there was still time (a week) for more growth to occur before flower sets in. My experience is a lot can change with tomatoes outdoors and even indoor ganja in a weeks time during veg.
Blessings

To honest ... photoperiod strains are much more forgiving outdoors than autos. Autos hate stress ... any stress. Animals , bugs , weather issues can definitely become obvious when plant become stunted. Autos just want to germ and grow all within about 90 days. IMO i would have kept them indoors , warm and happy. Photo period strains have time to repair , recover and tolerate exterior issues. Auto can sideways from the most basic problems.

If plant stay fairly static in a week , start over.
They will either push forward or they wont.
GL.

Note : can you surround it with chicken wire / screen ? Animals love munching the leaves unfortunately vv

Budzbuddha pretty much summed it up. Autos really crave 18+ hours of light. I really doubt they are getting that. And they are looking like they are getting eaten up pretty bad. I would just let them do their thing and if you get some flower, bonus. They honestly look like they didnt have enough light when you had them inside either.

Budzbuddha said:

To honest ... photoperiod strains are much more forgiving outdoors than autos. Autos hate stress ... any stress. Animals , bugs , weather issues can definitely become obvious when plant become stunted. Autos just want to germ and grow all within about 90 days. IMO i would have kept them indoors , warm and happy. Photo period strains have time to repair , recover and tolerate exterior issues. Auto can sideways from the most basic problems.

If plant stay fairly static in a week , start over.
They will either push forward or they wont.
GL.

Note : can you surround it with chicken wire / screen ? Animals love munching the leaves unfortunately vv

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Thanks for the reply! I don’t doubt these ladies went through a lot of stress with the initial stall, having to wait in solo cups until the last thaw, and even transplanting from what I’ve read.
This was mostly a trial run that I’ve ended up doing a lot of work for, until it’s late enough to start a photoperiod strain. I live in an apartment for the next year while I’m away at school, so a closet grow is a no go. From my calculations, germination will be on 6/20 to harvest late October but I would appreciate any insight on the best time to get started on these.
I’m gonna check on them again by Sunday hopefully and I’ll post pics for changes in growth. If I have to do the photos any earlier then late June I might not have time. Digging 18” holes with a military shovel was not any fun and I want to keep my plot size to a minimum.
I’m going to get some neem oil to apply to the plants or have on hand for next time. I’m going to try some deer repellent too, which I think worked well for my maters but you have to apply it every so often or after it rains. I was thinking about some chicken wire/fence, but hiking it out might be a little complicated. Maybe a spoil of wire and make a perimeter using the small trees around them.

JoeBlow5823 said:

Budzbuddha pretty much summed it up. Autos really crave 18+ hours of light. I really doubt they are getting that. And they are looking like they are getting eaten up pretty bad. I would just let them do their thing and if you get some flower, bonus. They honestly look like they didnt have enough light when you had them inside either.

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They were getting 24 hours most nights, if not at least 18. But I didn’t have them under fluorescent shop lights like I’ve used in the past. Just a dinky grow light, under the cabinet light strip from Walmart. The sun is only out for 14 hours right now so I don’t know how anybody gets 18+ hours of light this time of year and some are already running through harvest for outdoor auto grows