Autoflowering Indoor

Hello enthusiasts

Im embarking on my first grow op and am planting Royal queen seeds Easy Bud, and Barneys Pineapple Express.
Germination was done in starter cubes directly (Root Riot Root Riot? Organic Plant Starter Cubes)
and they are now under 2 65W CFLs 6400.

The video link below should give a good idea where i am at right now.


The grow box i have now is just for the first few weeks till they get to be 8-10 inches. I will then be moving it over to another grow box which i am in the process of constructing.

The dimensions of that box is 4*4*8. The insides, like this box is covered in reflective sheeting (not foil or mylar) and for lighting i have a 600w Phillips Greenpower lamp.

Similar to the grow box you see in the video, that box will also have two exhaust fans. 6" Intake at the bottom and 8" outtake at the top. I am placing the box in a large room and have two 16" wall fans blowing air around the room at all times. I will also try to place a smaller rotating wall fan inside the box to further improve airflow and control temperature better. I believe simulating natural winds leads to stronger stalks and plants.

Now about the grow.
After starting them off in starter cubes (2 EB, 2 PE) the first one popped through within 36 hours and the others followed not too far behind. I might have been a bit rash with the young sprouts, as i helped take off two seed casings. They were dry and hanging off so i pinched them off. Hope the stress caused wont be problematic.

After leaving them under 1 65w cfl for 3 days,( about 4-5 inches away) and slightly watering the surface each day, i am now on day 5. Ive added one more cfl today for this early grow phase. The lights are on 24hrs a day. The temperature inside the box ranges from 76-82 degrees. Im thinking about cutting the light cycle to 20-4 right before flowering starts. Dont know if thats the best idea, so any direction in that regard would be helpful.

Regarding the soil
Im using part Biobizz all mix
BioBizz All-Mix Soil Growing Medium - BioBizz products from Growell
mixed with unfertilized soil from nearby nursery, construction sand, and small coconut husk shreds. The reason im not using the all mix is because i only had a 20l bag and want to spread the goodness amongst numerous plants. I have no idea about the soil mix, as to whether or not it will work. Any inputs?

Now for some queries.

1) Ive never setup lights before and was wondering how to go about the process for my larger box. I have the 600w lamp, a 600w ballast, and a contactor with timers. From what i gather, the lamp is connected directly to the ballast, which is inturn connected to the contactor which has two leads, the input(elec.) and timer. Is that right? i really dont want to blow the bulb, cause i will not be able to find it.

2)How often do the plants at this stage need water. I do feel ive been a bit to enthusiastic with my watering schedule and need to tone it down. Should i keep the surface moist, or let it dry out before watering.

3) Ive also planted 2 easy bud seeds in 5litre pots, covered it with cellophane and left it to germinate. Im planning on letting those two grow outside with minimal fuss. They are autoflowering strains and im wondering how they would do in natural sunlight and in natural conditions. The problem is that it is monsoon season here now and rain is going to be a big issue. The temperature is another concern. The temp during the day ranges from 80-95 and humidity is around 90%. I know these are not the ideal conditions at all so any ideas on how to ensure a crop from that lot, will be very much appreciated.

Any suggestions, advice is very welcome. Thanks for the interest.

Edited by Kairolodger, 23 May 2012 - 02:00 PM.
line removal

A quick update. Day 6 after seeding, and the plants seem to be doing well. The leaves are beginning to fatten up and teh stalks seem to have good girth.
Here are some pics. Advice, tips welcome

Sorry about the pics. The site wont let me attach the same pics in two places.

You can have a look here. Thanks.
http://forum.grassci...s-easy-bud.html

For auto-flowers, you can use 18/6 for the entire grow and is what I was recommended to do. This grow would be my first ever and is auto-flower so I won't take any chances experimenting. I don't know what I can say about the soil mix, and the lights you're using are high grade I can't really help you out.. the soil will dry out after 4-5 days in a 5L pot so I'd say every 4 days. Remember, most plants thrive and do very well in dry soil so don't worry yourself too much if you miss a day, but don't get lazy. I wouldn't recommend growing in those outdoor conditions, sounds like your girls will haaate it. by the way, grow is coming out lovely so far.

Edited by Gunkbutt, 17 May 2012 - 06:50 PM.
forgot to say, cover the cups you're using, those roots won't like the light that can come in through the sides

subscribed.

Thanks. But im going to stick to my 24/0 schedule. at least till flowering. might go 16/8 then. Want to see how these babies turn out. I know the outdoor conditions are poor, but this is weed and i have faith in it growing out in the sun. might be difficult, but the two planted outdoors are easy buds so im willing to risk it. the pe im doing indoors.

you can do 24/0 but I suggest at least 18/6 even for the outdoor. auto-flowers need at least 18 hours light or you won't get such a good yield. as for your outdoor, good luck. those humidity levels will total your grow, you'll either get root rot or bud rot. humidity should ideally be under 50%. do what you please but if you want decent results, keep the plants inside.

thanks for your concern. im really doing them outdoors as an experiment. i really dont expect much of a yield. cant have them inside because i have no extra space. going to read up on high humidity levels and rot now. thanks again

tried something new tonight. SOUND THERAPY. going to make it apart of my daily schedule from now on.

ive been reading up on sound frequencies and how they affect plant growth. ive found few articles but im going ahead based on this one.
Molecular Breeding, Volume 21, Number 2 - SpringerLink

i have a frequency generating software and have created two files. one playing for 10 mins at 125hz and one playing at 250hz for 10mins.

i used a small portable speaker 3inches tall, 5w i think, and played those two tracks one after the other in the middle of my grow op.

20 mins of sound therapy today.

from tomorrow ive decided to expose the plants to 30 mins sessions of each frequency. that should give the plants 1 hour of frequency exposure. this i will be doing for a week. then see the results.

since this is my first grow, im not sure i have a yardstick to measure progress, so i will be heavily depending on readers here for opinions.

btw, i have mp3s of the sound frequencies, if anyone is interested.

nice idea with the sound therapy...I have never even heard about that. Might have to look into it. Sub'd for sure...

DAY 7
A quick update. The plants are doing well. they are nicely broadening their leaves and the second set of growth is finally starting to appear. However i am a little concerned with the lack of height. I know these are supposed to be very short plants with the easy bud averaging 50-60cm and pineapple express 40-50cm, but i did expect more vigorous growth initially.
The temp is at 77f and humidity 49%. Its like that for most of the day, other than 4/5 hours when the temperature slowly creeps into the eighties. low eighties though. 82/83.
dont think that it should be that much of a problem for a few hours a day.

Id love to hear your views on the plants. Do they look okay? Any suggestions.

Take a look and post up
Thanks

yeah dude they look great! seriously cover the sides, roots hate light and I'm sure light can get through that clear container.

Ill think about what i can do to cover the sides like you mentioned. But with the roots being so young and deep in the soil, i really dont see how the light is going to penetrate beneath the surface. i dont expect the roots to spread to the side of the cups this early. and ill be transplaning them in a week.
nonetheless, ill fashion a way to cover up my pots.
thanks

You're not going to need seperate fans for intake/exhaust. Just use one for exhaust. You may need to cut a hole if your box is super air tight but you don't need a fan pushing. I suggest finding a small air filter and cutting the intake hole to fit it.

So ive wrapped two of the pots with black electric tape.on my way to do the next two. That should prevent any light shock the roots may recieve once they grow to the edges of the pot. Thanks for the suggestion.

I had the intake fan put there because i was anticipating high humidity. Fortunately being indoors it hasnt been much of a problem till now.
Ive been thinking about the smell. But not for this vegging box. I need to do some thing on the odor front for my 4/4/6 box which will be using 600w hps. It sucks having no gardening stores here. Would have helped to find the right supplies.
Does anyone know where they might sell carbon filters that will be suitable for a grow box? Nothing specific like chain stores but the type of store where one might find a filter or supplies to make one. There are enough posts on diy filters, but where might i get the supplies required to make one.

Thanks for your posts and questions. Really encourages a grower.

I bought my filter from HTG Supply Carbon Filters

Day 8.

Things are going well. One of them have developed a nice second set of leaves. The others are still a bit behind that, so i can say i have a front runner.
Reading up alot on lst and autos. Dont know if its possible in such short breeds like mine but i think ill try lst on two of the four once they grow the fourth set of leaves.
Playing my sound mix through the small speakers a few hours each day at various times. Nothing to indicate they dont like it.

Here are todays pics:

Quick question?
How much should i water the plants? Ive read that watering properly mean having a bit of runoff that will wash away some of the old unused nutes from the soil. However,im not ready to start pouring that much water around my plants as yet. What ive been doing is using a spray bottle and spraying the soil in a circle around the plants. I go around twice during the process. then i squeeze one spray in to the base of my plant, into the root riot cube.
By spraying like this, i see that the soil is relatively dry an inch deep in soil within 24 hours.
Is that enough at this stage. Or should i be watering for runoff.
Im not overwatering am i?

yeah you should be watering every 3-5 days or twice a week. and yes, water for runoff because you need to check those pH levels even if everything seems alright. LST is a good idea, I'm going to do the same and they way I'm going to go about the training is at the 3rd leaf set, I'll do the initial bend and tie it down, and then every other leaf set that sprouts, I'll conduct training.

Thanks GB.