Autoflower newbie

New to growing autoflowers. Growing in 5 gallon pots. 3 pots with a mix of cheap soil and perolite and peatmoss. And 2 pots have miracle grow potting mix and 1 pot ffof. First 5 weeks I’ve been using nothing but dechlorinated tap water with ph between 6.3-6.7 and just letting it run off to about 1/3. Im starting to add nutrients and have cut the watering to 1 liter every other day with feeding 1/2 recommended nutrients every other watering instead of completely watering till run off. Ive started low stress training about week 3 and starting defoliating fan leafs the week after Am i headed in the right direction?

Incredible but unreadable as printed
Sorry old eyes
WELCOME to RIU

Too much to read and no break up of paragraphs..........everything runs together.......hard to read.

Try separation of your thoughts with paragraphs.

Sorry i went back through and fixed it.

Im a newbie to posting.
Im having issues with watering and looking for inputs. Ive read everything from watering with run off to watering enough so soil drys out in a day or two. The bottom of my pots still have some moisture in them but are slowly drying out over the weeks. Im not using any trays under them.
When i started lowering the amount of water i was doing the knuckle test and had very little moisture but the bottom of the pot was still a bit moist. Im starting to add fox farm nutrients and looking for input on that with the current situation im in.

I'm no soil grower, but I do know that when you water it should be to run off.
Good luck and welcome to RIU.

I think you made a wrong turn at defoliation.

Looking forward to maybe a picture

Pics read better

i am new here but i put clay pebbles in the tray and it seems to let the bottom of pot breath better and still read your run off..if that helps you

Ernest Kish said:

i am new here but i put clay pebbles in the tray and it seems to let the bottom of pot breath better and still read your run off..if that helps you

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Pics ?

Herb & Suds said:

Pics ?

Click to expand...

on a linux pc...trying to figure how to send pics sorry

Ernest Kish said:

i am new here but i put clay pebbles in the tray and it seems to let the bottom of pot breath better and still read your run off..if that helps you

Click to expand...

Create your own thread if you have questions.

twentyeight.threefive said:

Create your own thread if you have questions.

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Doesn't seem like a question to me. Looks like a suggestion.

Creature1969 said:

Doesn't seem like a question to me. Looks like a suggestion.

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Wow I got to work on my reading comprehension. Totally misread that, especially with someone asking for pics right after.

Once your plants have established roots, definitely water and feed to runoff. Don't stress about 'dried all the way to the bottom' as long as its dry to a few inches down it'll give enough air to the roots not to be waterlogged. If your plants haven't been watered to runoff for a handful of weeks in their 'biggest' container, you may need to be a bit aggressive for doing that to avoid having lock out.

Ernest Kish said:

on a linux pc...trying to figure how to send pics sorry

Click to expand...

The same way you'd post pics on a Windows PC. Here is a pic of some Autos I grew in the summer...



Taken on an Android phone and posted from a PC running Xubuntu 20.04.

I always water from the bottom. I add 1/2 inch of water to the tray and let it wick. Then dry for a day.

Like @Autodoctor said. Don't start defoliating until it's in flower. You'll only slow it down. The plant needs energy and you're pulling out the batteries.