Auto flower seedlings nutrients help

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Auto flower strains - Bubblegum and Jack 47

Medium - Coco, soil, perlite and vermiculite, in the ground

Lighting - outdoors under mother natures gazillion watt hps

 

Ok, I'm probably just being a bit over anxious and paranoid as this is my first attempt at auto's, and I've heard they're very delicate in their early stages, but I'd really appreciate an expert opinion here.

 

They are 2 1/2 weeks old, gave them their first feed 4 days ago at just under 1/4 strength as they looked a little pale and slow.  No evidence of burning since, and probably a little burst in growth.  To me they still look a little pale, so today I gave them another feed at just under half strength.  I'm worried about burning them as from what I've read they should be a bit bigger and at least 3 weeks before giving nutrients.

 

I've attached a pic of each strain, hoping that someone experienced with auto's can comment on colour and whether I should just relax a bit or keep feeding. 

 

Possibly pertinent info - planted directly into the ground a couple of days after germination, covered by ventilated half coke bottles for insect protection etc, and after being out a couple of days we had good rain, and again since, and unfortunately the soil has not been able to dry out since.  I scraped back the mulch today to try and get a bit of evaporation happening.

[STONEDAJ69]

Autos take a good whack of nutes from day one, dude. Have a look at Buzzos grow diaries here, he does a mighty fine auto.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

You're right, Buzzo is the king, unfortunatly I don't have is experience or golden touch

[D.R.S.D]

Dave, well I will keep it short this time as i just wrote a massive reply and friggin deleted it by my stoopidity .hear goes ! mr clarissa is on the money when he says autos like nutes from day 1, also buzzo is the man read his diaries.

I have only recently discovered autos (almost 2yr ago through this site), buzzo and another great auto grower ( outdoors though and ain't seen him around much ) have taught me alot with them . I've never grown these 2 auto strains but from my outdoor auto grows ( they are diaries on here ) I've found that outdoors, they like near enough full sun, deep pots or deep holes in your case , very very light growing mediums ( nutes fed will be determined by medium chosen ) ,and dampish soil (never dried out, there is a fine line though)

I'm sure the buzzword will find this thread and will be more than happy to throw his weight in with advice , I'm happy to help in anyway ,weather it's through my disasters or success , hope any of this helps regards pf

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Dave, well I will keep it short this time as i just wrote a massive reply and friggin deleted it by my stoopidity .hear goes ! mr clarissa is on the money when he says autos like nutes from day 1, also buzzo is the man read his diaries.

I have only recently discovered autos (almost 2yr ago through this site), buzzo and another great auto grower ( outdoors though and ain't seen him around much ) have taught me alot with them . I've never grown these 2 auto strains but from my outdoor auto grows ( they are diaries on here ) I've found that outdoors, they like near enough full sun, deep pots or deep holes in your case , very very light growing mediums ( nutes fed will be determined by medium chosen ) ,and dampish soil (never dried out, there is a fine line though)

I'm sure the buzzword will find this thread and will be more than happy to throw his weight in with advice , I'm happy to help in anyway ,weather it's through my disasters or success , hope any of this helps regards pf

 

Thanks dude, I'm feeling a little more confident now.  I like your comment about never drying out the medium, makes sense to me, even though there seems to be a theory out there about making the roots search for moisture.  I notice in one of your outdoor grows you had a similar problem with rain overwetting the soil early on, but they still seemed to come back ok, and I don't think my moisture levels are as bad, removing the mulch seems to have just about got it sorted now.  I'll just keep upping the nutes bit by bit as long as they stay happy.  They seem to have got going a little better over the last few days growth wise, but the colour still looks a bit pale to me.

 

[-RiverRat-]

ID give them some more time and keep the heat off the soil there by,mulching better. Good luck mate.

[brick]

Autos take a good whack of nutes from day one, dude. Have a look at Buzzos grow diaries here, he does a mighty fine auto.

Not all auto's cc. One breeder of Auto Blueberry, (can't remember which one, but was one I grew) recommended 1/2 nutes throught the complete grow. As his strain was nute sensitive.

[buzzo]

They need more food.

 

What % Coco is in the mix?

 

If Coco is the primary Medium make sure you use Coco specific nutes.

 

The E.C. level at this early age is 1.2

P.H. 5.8 or thereabouts.

 

I think brick might be right the Bubblegum might be nute sensitive like the Blueberry Strains.

But they look underfed to me.

[Sir PsychoHashy]

They need more food.

 

What % Coco is in the mix?

 

If Coco is the primary Medium make sure you use Coco specific nutes.

 

The E.C. level at this early age is 1.2

P.H. 5.8 or thereabouts.

 

I think brick might be right the Bubblegum might be nute sensitive like the Blueberry Strains.

But they look underfed to me.

 

Hi Buzzo, thanks for chiming in.  Guesstimate about 50% coco, 25-30% soil, and the rest perlite and vermiculite.

 

Using Dutch Master Gold grow at the moment, with add .27, silica, and a little gogo juice.  Don't have an ec meter.  First feed I gave them just under 1/4 strength by measurement as per bottle instructions.  Have done 2 feeds since at around 1/2 strength, seems to be helping.  No burning etc and they seem to be picking up.  Pics below are the same 2 plants as previous post, but 2 days later,the bubblegum is on the left, jack 47 on the right.  They actually look a bit greener in the pics than reality, but they have darkened up a little since starting 1/2 strength feeds.

 

 

My ph meter is a bit cheap n crappy, but has the soil ph at 6.5-6.8.  I thought this was in the range for soil grows, but am now wondering if being in coco means I should be in the hydro range as you say.  Irony is that 1 1/2 weeks ago it was just under 6 and I added some liquid dolomite to raise it.

 

So far the bubblegums seem to be taking the nutes as well as the jack 47.  The photoperiod Caramelo seedling is outgrowing the auto's, both in height and leaf production, but is also a little paler so I reckon she can take more.

 

Having gotten away with a couple of 1/2 strength feeds, my current thinking is to keep pushing the boundaries bit by bit and see how it goes.  Not expecting big yields from these, but am hoping to get a feel for growing them outdoors.  My interest in auto's lies in being able to have a few extra plants in at the start of the season when water demands are not so high, and being able to then harvest some early around the time the water demand starts to skyrocket, and then only have to look after my bigger producing full season plants when the inevitable heatwaves we get here start.

 

By the way, I am insanely jealous of what you manage to do with these plants under lights

[Sir PsychoHashy]

Not certain but it looks like 1/2 strength might be the limit at the moment, got a couple of little bits of what looks like nute burn on the tips/edges of a couple of leaves on both strains.

 

 

Aside from that they've definitely got going a bit more over the last 2 days, looking perky and a bit darker, and starting to grow.

 

 

Was going to go 3/4 strength today, but watered it down to just below 1/2 except for the non auto.  Expecting rain in 2 days, so I'll use that as a flush if it comes, if not I'll flush next time anyway, and try upping the feed more next week when they're a bit bigger.