First time (slightly nervous) grower- hoping for some wise advice!

[titchjuicy]

Hi all

I’m a first time grower since the Luxembourg authorities very kindly wrote into law that we are allowed to grow 4 plants for personal use

I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found this community!

I am growing Royal Runtz autoflower in an indoor grow tent.

My plants have been at seedling stage for nearly two weeks and the three plants all have different characteristics (i guess that’s fairly normal?) and i’m not sure any of them are doing perfectly.

I’ve posted some pics of my light set up and each plant.

I germinated using paper towels and that seemed to go fine.

I put the seedlings carefully straight into their final pot with the aerated soil that the company I bought my growkit from. I pre-moistened the soil, but only lightly.

I am using an LED light system, about two and a half feet above the seedlings, dimmed to about a third of the full brightness.

I am sucking fresh air through the tent, with the exhaust/filter on the outside (coming out the top of the tent) and the flaps at the bottom of the tent open.

For the first week and a half I mainly just sprayed the seedlings and soil to keep slightly damp, but never properly wet. I did this several times a day.

The initial environment wasn’t ideal as I struggled to get the humidity high enough, but that was only for about 3 or 4 days until a small humidifier was delivered and since then they’ve always been between 60 and 75% humidiy and between 20 and 25c.

In the last couple of days i have fed a very small amount of bio-bizz root juice (like a tiny amount diluted in water) and kept the soil around the seedlings lightly moistened. Still spraying a bit of mist each time.

One of the plants has grown really well, but the leaf colour looks slightly pale. Another had darker leaves but are curling a little and the ends of the leaves are slightly too dark (maybe?). And the third plant looks pretty healthy, if a little smaller than the others.

Soooo, based on all of the above and the pics, i’d be everso grateful if any wise souls could give me advice on the plants- am i worrying about nothing? Is anything damaged beyond repair? Should I be doing something different?

Thanks so much!

N

[ru55co]

Hi @titchjuicy firstly welcome to the community! Your setup sounds and looks great.
You’re clearly doing your homework with the whole process and your seedlings look great!
Congrats and enjoy!

[Grant2047]

Looks good. I would say they are starting veg… i have only grown 2 photoperiods i would say successfully although 1 turned in to a herm and i got rid of him/her . And im growing two autos now. from what i have read and understand they need 18hours light 6 dark there is no need for 12/12 to start flower as these are autos they will grow and flower in 12 weeks and that will be there life cycle over . And to water around the edge of the leaves 2-3 inches away from the centre to help the root system and encourage root grow outwards. So you do not drown the roots and allows the roots oxygen.
I also use biobizz nutrients and soil (allmix) i follow the schedule i will attach it for you help. and as for you strain u could possibly find all the information from the site or store u purchased your seeds from. For germ,veg,flower . Ie temp,humidity light intensity. I found each plant has its own specific needs for light temp and humidity. I purchased all my seeds from RQS and they have all the info for each strain to aid in growing

[Grant2047]

[Grant2047]

[SJ1 (SJ)]

Nice work. First thing to advise you - relax, you got this You are already more knowledgable than I was when I started and I managed to grow a good harvest so you are already flying.

Second, don’t stress over them and attend to them every few hrs. Less is honestly more, the more you fuck around with them, which is the tendency in the first few grows, to micromanage everything to the nth degree. Learn to leave them alone for long periods (obviously you can check on them, and should do) BUT the more you do stuff, then correct, then adjust this and that, the more you will stress them.

Stress is the worst, it really impacts the plants. So the less you do, assuming they are happy, the better they will perform.

Watering - no need to mist several times per day. Just water with up to 50ml while they are seedlings, and only water again when topsoil is dry. Again, less is more.

Finally, there are thousands of guides written out there. All will serve you well depending what style you want to use. However, the best advice I can offer is learn to read the plants. The plants will tell you what they need if you can learn to read the signs.

For example, don’t just mindlessly follow a guide that says water X per day. Every plant is different so how would you know if this plan fits your grow? You need to figure out when the plant wants water for yourself, then water to that. Watering should follow a wet-dry cycle ie only water when dry. If you just water X per day you would be stressing them.

Likewise with nutes. Start with 50% doses and work up. If/when you get leaf tip burn you are at the limit and need to back off slightly, irrespective of what the guide tells you.

Only add more nutes if you see a deficiency.

Happy growing!

[Grant2047]

im no pro. Sorry to spam u with all that information. It is all just reading material take from it what u like. im also still learning. And one thing i do understand is it takes patience and experience. On my first grow i made so many mistakes causing growth delay but it being a photoperiod made it alot easier to ammend and fix and read what the plant wanted/needed givin me time to understand and learn i had the time for it to bounce back from my mistakes.
Auto flowers do not have this opportunity the life cycle will end in 12 weeks .
Sorry again i didnt mean to spam u with all that just thought it could help. happy growing

[titchjuicy]

Not at all, thanks very much for replying and for the advice…greatly appreciated!

[titchjuicy]

That’s fab advice- thanks very much. I definitely have been fussing over them too much. I’ll ease off and let them dictate to me what they need. Cheers

[titchjuicy]

Thanks very much- what a lovely place this is!

[Grant2047]

Also if u havent allready there is an app u can download on your phone to read the ppfd and dli on your phone simply by placing it under your light above the plant to get your reading to find your desired light par and coverage looking forward to watching your journey. Any questions im sure there lots of us who will help as best as we can

[FAQUE]

Welcome to this hobby and to this community! I see you’ve treated your plants really well, they look happy! Let me tell you about this stage for autos:
They are finally ready to speed up their growth. They need healthy roots to start colonizing their whole space. Roots always go where the moisture is, and I can see from the pictures you’re only keeping the area next to the plant moist. That’s the right thing to do for seedlings, but now it’s time for them to expand.
The root expansion starts at the bottom of the plant, and remember roots go where the moisture is, so what you really need to do right now is some really deep watering
which is very important for autos. How deep? Until water starts comming out at the bottom of the pot!
Add as much as 1/10 the volume of the pot. For example, for a 10 liter pot you need to add 1 liter of water. Keep adding slowly until water comes out of the bottom. Adding so much water might seem a bit scary at first but don’t worry, your fabric pots will keep the roots oxigenated so you don’t need to worry about root diseases. Don’t water the plants again until the soil gets dry again, which might happen in a week or two.
The reason why some of your plants look a bit pale is exactly because of this, they’re starving nitrogen because the surronding soil is too dry so the roots can’t expand and the microorganisms can’t do their job if the soil is too dry. Deep watering can solve that.
You might also want to add an oscillating fan. It’s not as important at this stage, but it’s nice to have and it will help your plants a lot.
Happy growing!

[titchjuicy]

Thank you! The watering is something i’ve been nervous about…the pots are plastic rather than fabric. Would this mean perhaps a little less water? Also, would it be a good time introduce next growth nutrients?

[FAQUE]

If the pots are plastic add the same ammount of water (1/10 the size of the pot), just avoid watering the roots directly. Add water to the sides of the pots, not the center. Do it slowly, let the soil absorb it.
What you need to know is cannabis loves really deep watering and hates too frequent watering. That means you should avoid giving water too often, but every time you do, you should add a LOT of water. This is specially true for autos because without deep watering they might become root bound, triggering their flowering too soon.

[Antipop]

Welcome to the community @titchjuicy !

Lots of helpful folks around here. As others said they look good, try not to stress too much which I know is easier said than done. Looking forward to see them grow as I’m just about done with my Royal Runtz photos(3rd grow).

Happy growing and keep us updated!

[titchjuicy]

Brilliant, thanks.

[titchjuicy]

I’ve just seen your pics- they look fantastic! Thanks for your reply

[DeAzNuTz]

Here’s my Biobizz nutrients feeding schedule with Biobizz Light-Mix soil. The absolute best nutrients with absolutely best soil in today’s market. This Dutch peat moss is special in some way because no other soil has given me the same results like Biobizz Light-Mix does.

Your seedling looks a little lime which is a clear sign of not enough nitrogen and/or calcium. Make sure you are supplementing Cal-Mag at 2mL per gallon of water throughout the veg and during flower for autos you want to go up to 5mL per gallon of water for the first 4 weeks of flower and then bring it back down to 2mL per gallon until harvest. PHOTOS should get 10 mL per gallon of water throughout flowering stage until the end of 4th week of flower and then back down to 2 mL per gallon. This is something new because I always used to add that much Cal-Mag throughout the whole flowering stage but learned from this doctor who busted this myth that when you to give that much Cal-Mag and after testing she learned that after 30 days of flower the plants don’t need any more Cal-Mag but because I use RO water It has no nutrients in it whatsoever so I supplement it myself at 2 mL per gallon after the first 30 days of Bloom.

Just so you have a better understanding I’ve been growing for almost 9 years and I am a master grower and I own my own growing facility and grow my own at home so everything I’m telling you is spot on.

On your next feeding I would give your seedling some more nitrogen so a Fish-Mix or Bio-Grow and Cal-Mag. Also make sure your soil pH is in range. If you are using straight coco then you want to try to keep that coco pH between 5.6 and 6.0 but if using soil then the sweet spot is between 6.2 and 6.5 but make sure it’s between 6.0 and 7.0 for proper growth. My feeding schedule is based on soil setup and The feeding levels are for PHOTOS. So if you are growing autos then give half of the feedings you see on my feeding schedule which will be perfect for AUTOS.

I hope this helps. Happy growing!

P.S.
Remember that 90% of problems start because of soil/coco pH imbalance. This means that as soon as you notice a little leaf discoloration or some stress then the first thing you need to do is check your soil pH and if not in range then you’ll need to adjust it with dolomite lime powder to raise your soil pH at about 20 g per gallon of soil and to lower your soil pH You going to want to use aluminum sulfate at a ratio of 10 g per gallon of soil, and it’s dirt cheap like $20 for 4 lb. After you adjust soil pH give you plants 3-4 days and you should start saying improvements/changes. If the soil pH is in range then you’ll need to figure out why the plant is having the issues by trying to trace back and find out if you are overwatering them, or overfeeding, or not providing proper parameters for temperature and humidity, etc…

I recommend educating yourself on VPD vapor pressure deficit chart and start following it because that’s what’s going to help your plants grow vigorously and provide the best yield possible and also combining it with defoliations, LST, Bloom boosters, etc etc…for next yields.

I would say that 70% of the information online is incorrect which means you have to be careful what you’re reading because not everything will give you good results. I’m speaking from experience because it took me almost 2 years to dial in my grow. If you really want to educate yourself and take your grow to the next level, here are some videos I highly recommend watching. Be sure to watch all of the “growing how to” videos and some of the “grow along” videos and then you’ll start growing like a real pro Just by watching these videos. They use the same exact technique I am using to get massive yields.

Education

[titchjuicy]

Thanks very much!

[Eastbound_E]

Less is better when your getting seedlings going. I avoid any nutrients or enhancers as there is no reason for them. Give it plain water & soil and let the seedling do its thing.

Everything your seedling needs for first two weeks is stored in those small round leaves known as cotelydons. These small leaves contain nutrients to give the seedling a definite start.

Seedlings simply don’t need nutrient feedings & enhancers right off the bat even especially if your in fresh soil the soil itself contains enough nutrients to keep the plant feed for up to 2-3 weeks.

Careful with YT videos as not everyone on there is reliable as far as factual information. I use to always hear people say, “Well my buddy who is growing for 30 years does this.” But your buddy could of been growing wrong for 30 years, I go based off science and creditable sources. Otherwise you end up on forums with 1000 different answers from everybody and your head starts spinning.

You can’t argue with science, so make sure your getting your information from qualified sources who have the trials & data to back their claims.