hey everybody. true definition of a beginner here haha i'm just nearing the last few weeks of my first grow ever and i have become more and more perplexed as it's gone on and had so many questions come up that i never even thought about. i was hoping i could find some help on here, so i'm just going to shoot out a few questions and any help or answers would be greatly appreciated. first off i have 10 plants growing right now, i got autoflowering seeds of northern lights (5) and creamatic (5) just in case anybody has experience with these strains. i have one seed in each of ten 10 gallon pots, filled with a miracle gro blend for beginners, the soil is supposed to help prevent from over and under watering. i have two small flourescent bulbs lighting all ten pots in a small closet. so here are some problems or questions i've been running into-- with an autoflowering strain it had been loosely described to me almost as a "set it and forget it" plant. with watering it'll do the rest of the work. should i be using any nutrients or feeding them anything other than just regular watering? i've also encountered some small bugs. they look very similar to gnats and i haven't been able to read anything about them even though i've searched through a lot of the "common pests." would a pest strip in the closet help with this? are pesticides too much for some autoflowering strains? unfortunately i had bad timing in my planting because i was hit with hurricane sandy during their growing stage. i lost electricity for four days, so my plants were without light for four days out of what is only supposed to be 8-9 weeks from planting to harvesting. what kind of damage could this have caused? could this have ruined an entire harvest or will adjustments need to be made? also is there any danger in harvesting after the recommended time? will the thc or potency of the medicine deteriorate the longer they stay? will the taste or harshness be tampered with if they are harvested before or after the recommended harvest time? like i said i know it's a lot of questions and very longwinded i'm sorry for the long story here haha but i could really use some help. thank you to anybody in advance.
sorry you're not getting responses yet.. anyway, i don't know anything about growing but i suggest you change the title of your thread so other growers can help. peace
The bugs you speak of could be spider mites. If so, you gotta do something or they'll take over and ruin the plants. As for nutes, yeah, using some nutes is always good as long as you don't overdo it. Harvesting late will certainly effect the quality of the bud. It will be less potent if you wait too long. The same thing happens if you harvest too early. Losing light for four days shouldn't do any permanent damage but it will slow the growth a bit. Bud taste and harshness is controlled by proper drying and curing. That's something you have control over. Be patient and the smoke will be tasty and smooth. Rush it and it will be harsh and hard to burn properly. What size lights are you using?
Figure out the bug problem, I am assuming these plants have buds on them. Spider mite are easy you can see them crawling on the plant, they will make webs just like any spider. The don't fly like gnats. There must be a million post on this site about them. If they are mites and you don't take care of them your other concerns will meaningless, as these little fuckers will eat everything worth having on your plants. I had them once, went to the gardening store bought two bombs they worked. It was to late the damage was done, I basically got nothing from the plants. I personally don't think you have them, if your description of them looking like gnats is correct .