Why won't my autos get taller lol?

I know they are supposed to be "dwarves" but mine are so short n just keep putting out leaves n have hardly any vertical growth. Most ppl are trying to battle stretch but I almost need some because some leaves are literally laying on my soil n I don't think that's a very good thing in terms of gas exchange n whatnot. Those leaves tht are on the bottom look like shit while the rest of the plant looks fine..should I just pull them off lol? N are these excessively short for being between 10-12 days from sprouting? I've seen photo plants with only cotyledons tht are taller than mine :/

There's no bleaching n my light is already pretty Damn far away..heat at the canopy is about as good as it's gonna get with what I have available...any insight is appreciated ..

1.Pull off the leaves that are sitting on the perlite?
Or
2. Raise the light even further?
Or
3. Stop tripping out?


Might even be able to gently dig out some perlite with a spoon without disturbing them too much. Just hate to Fuck with em if it could damage the root system or stress em out

The two on the right and the one closest to the front are the ones I'm concerned about

Another thing that seems odd to me is that the cotyledons are getting a lot larger n healthier looking rather than yellowing n shrivelling up. Is that an auto thing? These gals have enough leaves for photosynthesis n enough roots to uptake nutes I'd think.

man, they do look short. do you have the bottoms cut out of the blue solo cups so the roots can get into the bottoms? i'm sure you do, just checking...
i wouldn't really pull the lights any higher, but what do i know?

i've never grown any autos, but holy shit, they are small.. not really for their age, but considering they'll start to flower in another two weeks, maybe they'll stretch a shit ton once they hit flower, idk m8, very odd..

for 10-12 days they are fine. Once the roots get a bit bigger they will get the move on. I had 5 at that age and were nowhere that size. In 30 days they are now 24-36 inches. When they get a bit bigger trim the bottom off. You are doing just fine.

wow, 10 to 12 from sprouting, I think they look pretty damn good. The only auto I grew was a berry kush and at harvest is was 15" tall and that little sucker gave me 1 oz of dried flowers..

racerboy71 said:

man, they do look short. do you have the bottoms cut out of the blue solo cups so the roots can get into the bottoms? i'm sure you do, just checking...
i wouldn't really pull the lights any higher, but what do i know?

i've never grown any autos, but holy shit, they are small.. not really for their age, but considering they'll start to flower in another two weeks, maybe they'll stretch a shit ton once they hit flower, idk m8, very odd..

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Yeah bro bottoms cut out - when I had em inside another solo cup I pulled one up to see what was goin on n roots were hanging out an inch or 2 (bout a week ago) so I just threw them in the 3 n 2 gallon smart pots lol..

ayr0n said:

Yeah bro bottoms cut out - when I had em inside another solo cup I pulled one up to see what was goin on n roots were hanging out an inch or 2 (bout a week ago) so I just threw them in the 3 n 2 gallon smart pots lol..

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i do the same thing a lot of times..

The roots seemed to just go straight down rather than filling in the solo cup. Might of jumped the gun on transplant but they seemed to like it cuz that's when they took off

Da Mann said:

for 10-12 days they are fine. Once the roots get a bit bigger they will get the move on. I had 5 at that age and were nowhere that size. In 30 days they are now 24-36 inches. When they get a bit bigger trim the bottom off. You are doing just fine.

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FLkeys1 said:

wow, 10 to 12 from sprouting, I think they look pretty damn good. The only auto I grew was a berry kush and at harvest is was 15" tall and that little sucker gave me 1 oz of dried flowers..

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Sweet Thx for the responses guys. Still not real happy bout the first set of leaves on those 3 just sitting on perlite but I guess they're fine..n Damn FL - 1 zip from a 15" auto sounds good to me. How long did tht one take to finish from seed? If I pull an oz off each of these I'll be pretty Damn happy being my first grow (vegged a couple plants for a few months once..don't really count that lol). I'm aiming for at least 5oz total from the 7 autos trying to be realistic with my limited experience...

are they in straight perlite, like hempy style, but then i see grow bags, so i'm thinking they can't be hempys..

racerboy71 said:

are they in straight perlite, like hempy style, but then i see grow bags, so i'm thinking they can't be hempys..

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Nope mostly soil.. I've got a nice organic mix, just had fungus gnats coming out of it so I layered with perlite n haven't seen em since ..hopefully they dnt come back! Hitting lightly with neem oil to try n prevent it

ayr0n said:

Nope mostly soil.. I've got a nice organic mix, just had fungus gnats coming out of it so I layered with perlite n haven't seen em since ..hopefully they dnt come back! Hitting lightly with neem oil to try n prevent it

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yeah, the perlite should help, or you can try and let them dry out a bit more in between waterings, but if the perlite is working, i'd not eff with it too much...
gnats are mostly just an annoyance,and not really bad for the plants ime, not unless you get some crazy ass infestation..

racerboy71 said:

yeah, the perlite should help, or you can try and let them dry out a bit more in between waterings, but if the perlite is working, i'd not eff with it too much...
gnats are mostly just an annoyance,and not really bad for the plants ime, not unless you get some crazy ass infestation..

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Haha yeah man I was way overwatering. First week they got water like every day :/ learned my lesson quick. Just don't want to deprive em...not sure how to really decide if they are dry enough or not without poking around n there , n especially with the perlite layer - feels like ima crush roots or somethin if I stick a finger n there

you'll get a hang of it in no time.. if you're able to pick up the pots, try and pick them up every day or so and feel the weight of them.. it'l be super easy to tell the difference in weight when they're thirsty and when they're not..
also, given time, you'll just be able to tell from looks.. they'll start to get slightly droopy when they're thirsty.. obviously you don' wanna wait too long, or they'll go super droopy, lol.. i did that a few weeks ago and was afraid i really eff'ed up. went 4 days without watering, and they weren't happy at all.. watered them though and they bounced right back..
when you don't over water, it'll usually make the roots grow a bit in search of water, which is a good thing..

ayr0n said:

Haha yeah man I was way overwatering. First week they got water like every day :/ learned my lesson quick. Just don't want to deprive em...not sure how to really decide if they are dry enough or not without poking around n there , n especially with the perlite layer - feels like ima crush roots or somethin if I stick a finger n there

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racerboy71 said:

when you don't over water, it'll usually make the roots grow a bit in search of water, which is a good thing..

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what do you use to actually water with? Like a 'watering can' ? I'm very pathetically hand watering with a cooking measuring cup which prob isn't real great for saturating the medium thoroughly and evenly...really gotta get over to the garden center n get something larger n more effective...pretty ghetto right now.


Mixed up my first batch of nutes / water this morning in one of these:


then watered with one of these:



...




Btw thanks for all the tips bro. Really appreciate it

over watering autos is the worst thing you can do....i barely spray the top for a wk or two and use a dropper when i 1st start to water them ( i use an old dish detergent bottle after that... i found one that was 1L.. it gives you a lot of control)... you just gutta be real careful in the beginning dumping water on them.. they already have a small tap root, if you stunt it you ez cut yield in half or more... when i think they need to be watered, i wait a day... fill up some water... dump it out... wait two more days... and i probably still watered it a day too soon!!!

BostonGardenahh said:

over watering autos is the worst thing you can do....i barely spray the top for a wk or two and use a dropper when i 1st start to water them ( i use an old dish detergent bottle after that... i found one that was 1L.. it gives you a lot of control)... you just gutta be real careful in the beginning dumping water on them.. they already have a small tap root, if you stunt it you ez cut yield in half or more... when i think they need to be watered, i wait a day... fill up some water... dump it out... wait two more days... and i probably still watered it a day too soon!!!

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Do they look like they got stunted like that?

This one just hit the 2 week mark from sprout (planted 7-1-14):



Would suck to have half of an already small yielding plant. I was thinking because I'm running 600w mh in less than a square meter they just have no reason to stretch so they're staying real short n growing wider

ayr0n said:

Do they look like they got stunted like that?

This one just hit the 2 week mark from sprout (planted 7-1-14):
View attachment 3207064


Would suck to have half of an already small yielding plant. I was thinking because I'm running 600w mh in less than a square meter they just have no reason to stretch so they're staying real short n growing wider

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no they look fine... you have to remember that they aren't just growing above ground.... also you have to realize that the breeder's times are bullshit... they are giving the absolute least amount of time when you "CAN" harvest them under perfect laboratory conditions... i take their times w/a grain of salt and to save myself the aggravation i never keep track of the time... i just plant them and when they are done they're done.. unless i'm running out of bud; then they are done when i say so.....

BostonGardenahh said:

no they look fine... you have to remember that they aren't just growing above ground.... also you have to realize that the breeder's times are bullshit... they are giving the absolute least amount of time when you "CAN" harvest them under perfect laboratory conditions... i take their times w/a grain of salt and to save myself the aggravation i never keep track of the time... i just plant them and when they are done they're done.. unless i'm running out of bud; then they are done when i say so.....

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Yeah they advertise this one as ready in 60 days from seed lmao. Reaally can't see that being possible. Maybe they'll have flowers at 60, but I'm thinking more like 85-90ish minimum for any weight or potency. Gonna pick up a loupe when they start flowering

I still get paranoid about watering my autos. I water with a spray bottle for about 3 weeks then switch to twice a week until full flower then up it to thrice a week.

Lifting the pot is a great tip and when in doubt wait a day