Noob's guide to gettin down with Auto's

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
Just another vague
outline of a auto's life cycle



Seedling stage - Veg

1.Soil/growing medium

Something with little or no nutes
Seed starter with good drainage peat plugs and Rockwool are really bad about holding water
And I have had little luck with them
Extra perlite can be added to cut the strength of your final container soil
Fill your pot up until you have about 2-3” above the rim of a party cup to the top of the pot ( this gives your 2-3” to add soil to the pot later to bury the stem after its popped up and stretched a bit)
Center party cup and gently pack soil around the cup pull the cup out and fill hole with seed starter or 50/50 perlite soil mix
Plant seed in this area

2.Lighting

Not much is needed can be a handful of cfl’s ,t-5 , led set a little higher than normal, whatever you are going to use picked up a little higher to calm down the intensity at first.
Then slowly move it closer or add more lights. After they start to gain leaf mass

3.Water

Lightly at this point spray bottle can be used until a few sets of leaves
Try to keep your watering’s shallow and try your damndest not to soak the pot
Until the plant is much larger and can handle it
The bottom of the pot will be soaked and the top looks dry so it gets watered
It’s a vicious nonproductive cycle
That will lead to a stunted plant

4.

NO NUTES
NO NUTES
NO NUTES
For 2-3 weeks if it looks too small for feeding it probably is

Veg – Pre Flower

Lighting
Try for at least 100w a plant to make this worth your time
Nutes
start feeding at ¼-1/3 str by what the directions on the bottle say

Pre Flower – Veg

Preflower is just the plant showing sex it has a bit of veg growth left so not switching to bloom nutes at this point is a good thing otherwise youre starving your plant in the beginning of flower
Feedings
Can be left at the str you have been using or slowly bumped up if they start looking hungry



Pre Flower -( Veg) – Flower
when the pom –pom puff balls of flower show is when I start bloom nutes ¼ str and work up
theyre finished when they are finished not when the breeder “ Claims”
they will be done when they are good and ready
dont cut yourself short on yields by harvesting early




Enjoy, Add too it bongsmilie
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Just another vague
outline of a auto's life cycle



Seedling stage - Veg

1.Soil/growing medium

Something with little or no nutes
Seed starter with good drainage peat plugs and Rockwool are really bad about holding water
And I have had little luck with them
Extra perlite can be added to cut the strength of your final container soil
Fill your pot up until you have about 2-3” above the rim of a party cup to the top of the pot ( this gives your 2-3” to add soil to the pot later to bury the stem after its popped up and stretched a bit)
Center party cup and gently pack soil around the cup pull the cup out and fill hole with seed starter or 50/50 perlite soil mix
Plant seed in this area

2.Lighting

Not much is needed can be a handful of cfl’s ,t-5 , led set a little higher than normal, whatever you are going to use picked up a little higher to calm down the intensity at first.
Then slowly move it closer or add more lights. After they start to gain leaf mass

3.Water

Lightly at this point spray bottle can be used until a few sets of leaves
Try to keep your watering’s shallow and try your damndest not to soak the pot
Until the plant is much larger and can handle it
The bottom of the pot will be soaked and the top looks dry so it gets watered
It’s a vicious nonproductive cycle
That will lead to a stunted plant

4.

NO NUTES
NO NUTES
NO NUTES
For 2-3 weeks if it looks too small for feeding it probably is

Veg – Pre Flower

Lighting
Try for at least 100w a plant to make this worth your time
Nutes
start feeding at ¼-1/3 str by what the directions on the bottle say

Pre Flower – Veg

Preflower is just the plant showing sex it has a bit of veg growth left so not switching to bloom nutes at this point is a good thing otherwise youre starving your plant in the beginning of flower
Feedings
Can be left at the str you have been using or slowly bumped up if they start looking hungry



Pre Flower -( Veg) – Flower
when the pom –pom puff balls of flower show is when I start bloom nutes ¼ str and work up
theyre finished when they are finished not when the breeder “ Claims”
they will be done when they are good and ready
dont cut yourself short on yields by harvesting early




Enjoy, Add too it bongsmilie
Thanks a ton for posting that Tek! I've planted my first 2 autos directly in the soil I was going to grow them in. I did it that way because I was worried about transplanting a plant that already has such a shortened life span. I haven't even thought about putting a seedling mix in the middle of the final pot. That's an awesome pointer that I will be using next week when I pop my next two seeds.
 

JTT

Member
hey i wanted to ask you a few questions considering im quite new at this and you seem like you know what your doing. I put my seeds in the 60/40 mix of soil/perlite on 20 1/2 hrs lights on and 3 and half off. in 2 gallon maybe three gallon pots under 11000 watts of cfl in a 3x4x2.5' tall room. lights are about 6-8 inches away from plants i have 7 auto fem Afghan Kush Ryder going. all have sprouted in under 48 hours and are about 2-3 inches big. i was wondering how often do you water, i know you dont do it much cause u can drown em and its better to starve them than to drown them if anything but how often would you say and also when do you pick up with the watering and to how much! and is it ok that i grow my plants under cfls for 2 weeks than move them under a 1000 watt hps in a 5x6x4 room??? also when should nutrients be introduced. i have liquid karma that you give the plant the whole way through and botanical pro grow and pro bloom?? the liquid karma on the back of the bottle says you can give it to seedlings but i didnt wanna add it till i knew for sure? the humidity in my room ranges from 36-46% and temps between 82-86 degrees ferinheight. Any suggestions on what i should do from here on out would truely be appreciated as i am a newbie at this whole thing abd have noone to ask whos personally done it!

thanks
and thank you tekdc911 for the guide truely appreciate it!
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
i water daily in small amounts
when the plant has laid some roots down and started vertical growth
you're going to have to water more often with the mix you have going after they get larger and more demanding
there is no need for any additives im not saying you cant use it
but the seedling has stored energy that will carry it for couple weeks from germ
so there is really no need for it
 

JTT

Member
so when would you start the nutes and additives? whats daily in small ammounts yo you do u water till u see water come out on the botton or??
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
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you are going to have crazy space issue's 3 of these babies would dominate a 3x4 box they have lots of potential
when im talking about pom-pom puff's this is the point i switch to bloom nutes
been doing that for 2 weeks
but the way i figure if its shooting new growth then it still needs some N so i gave it 2 light feedings of bloom and 2 veg feeds about 1/2 - 3/4 str but im mostly soilless
so its pretty much eating what i feed it
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
like a 1/4 - 1/2 a cup is all thats needed
its trial and error due to medium differences
plant it give it 20 squirts out of a spray bottle 6-10 hours later do it again
when it pops up keep squirting until it gets some real leaves then start shallow waterings
if you dont think the water is drying up and your pot is getting heavier then your watering too much
think about the size of the plant and what it needs
babies are fed in bottles about the size of a soda can
i killed a 32oz fountain drink with lunch today
you know what i mean

you gotta learn what the plant is telling you and take all the variables you see from the environment you're providing them

fill up a pot of equal size with just whatever soil you're using pick it up then pick up your pot
if there is a more then just barely noticable difference then your watering too much and the water may start stacking up in the bottom of the container
 

JTT

Member
thanks for the info brother and the pics really appreciate it so when i see that i know when to start feeding bloom nutes, when do you start and end the feeding for veg nutes?? also have you ever heard of liquad karma? it is supposed to be used all the way through and u can use it as foilage spray? when do you start foilage spray? and when do you start feeding the plant those nutes if its all the way through? and do you feed plant nutes every watering or?? sorry for all the questions but least this grow guide will have alot of answers in it lol!

and as of the room size problem i didnt know these plants turned out as good as they do it seemed like everyone was havin issues from the get go with them but mine are startin out nicely from what i see i was wondering if i have them in a 3 foot wide by 4 foot deep box for now by 3 feet high with 10 100 watt cfls and im moving them to a 5 foot wide by six foot high by 4 feet deep box with a 1000 watt hps in two weeks. the reason there not in there now is cause i gotta wait to have the extra cash to buy it and i will in two weeks. is that ok to do??

also wanted to know about topping the plant? tieng branches down? and scrogging? are these good ideas to do with a auto and what would you say you would do and in what order and when do you do these things? how soon cause i know u mainly do this stuff in veg and maybee a few weeks into flower right?
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
so when would you start the nutes and additives? whats daily in small ammounts yo you do u water till u see water come out on the botton or??
try to avoid watering until runoff in the germ/seedling stage pot will end up being too wet
i dont water with runoff
until the plant is way larger 1-2 feet some times
seedlings need to be moist not wet

you can introduce your nutes at 2-3 weeks / preflower depends on how it looks if it looks hungry it gets 1/4 str if it looks like its happy i leave it alone :) if it aint broke dont fix it
the seedlings stored energy and what is in the growing medium will carry it this far
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
i usually just go by the feeding schedule on the bottle unless the plant starts screaming something at me
consistency is key start low move in small increments

i wouldnt suggest topping the AKR's ive done it to a few of them and it makes them stretch like crazy
there are other strains that have no problem with topping though
they like lst and i put a couple in a scrog
i start heavy lst at around the 5th-7th node
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member

lol see that funky looking branch all shriveled up?
thats what it looks like after 5 applications of home made Colloidal silver of UNKNOWN ppm's think i may have burned the shit out of it LOLzzzz
 

JTT

Member
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this is my grow room set up 3 rooms in 1 cabinet! total demension of cabinet is 8 feet long by 6 feet high by 4 feet deep
 

JTT

Member
thanks for the info brother! my plants are only 3 inchs out of the soil so well see what happens there almost 48hrs old so just stick to some spray bottle watering for the next week or so see where its at
 

JTT

Member
is ppm important? and where can u get one? and is water with the right ph level just as good as distilled?
 

tekdc911

Well-Known Member
yes and no
i dont use one
i was talking about the colloidal silver ppm was too high i think or water , amperage was off something
 

new2420grow

Active Member
Tek... do you use nutes with every watering, or do you alternate. I've just been using nutes with every other watering. What's your thoughts?
 
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