Ok so a little about my grow. I'm growing in a 4x4 tent using a coco perlite mix and an lec 315 grow light. Watering with ph balanced filtered tap water. I'm growing autoflower because they're best for my current situation. Ok this is them right after they sprouted. Don't think they were deep enough all needed help with their seed. I was under watering pretty badly treating it like dirt at first and I had to go out of town for a few days leaving my gf to water. But I had told her to water them the same amount I was (not enough). So this is how they looked when I got back around day 9. She thought they were doing good but she doesn't grow haha. I emergency watered them and have kept them more hydrated since. They're growing some now but I'm afraid the damage is done. This is a pic from today think it's like day 12. They're growing but are way way behind schedule for an auto. Think they can pull through? Introducing some nutes today.
I ran a little Cal Mag and Some Micro when I first got back but then I switched to plain ph balanced water again. Today however I gave them like 2.5 ml of micro and same amount of calmag per gal. I was afraid they were getting a deposit build up from my under watering cause my regular tap water is like 150 ppm. So I flushed them a little.
Oh and by under watering it wasn't so much frequency as just not enough water. Was basically just getting the top nice and wet not watering to run off like I am now.
Just let it be man. Seedlings don't need anything after sprout for a few days the least.... Also when running coco it's best when you're in the seedling stage to let it dry a little. That way the roots search the big pot for water. Once you have the roots establish THEN you can start feeding and watering regularly and really reap the benefits of coco.
You don't have to eliminate cal mag at all from your watering schedule because you can't give a plant too much. In very rare cases it can lock plants. I just mentioned it because I said you stopped and went back to ph'd water again. Also use silica another stress reliever and you can not give it too much. I just did a run of autos and for day 12 that's far behind. The problem is by under watering that can give adult plants big problems like root rot because the roots hit dry pockets and die off. You had a seedling that had a minimal root system that is working hard to find water and build roots,it is a very critical time. Auto's move very,very fast and the margin for error is very small with auto's you can't afford to have too many critical mistakes. I had all types of issues with mine. I over watered and they were light burnt also they developed a cal mag disease (I never even used cal mag) I got them to harvest so not all is lost but it also depends upon the strain some can't handle under watering while others are nutrient sensitive. I got 9 oz from three Girls Scout Cookies from Fast Buds Seeds and I got lucky they were good genetics and that strain is a very hardy strain to begin with. I rambled sorry i just smoked some of those same GSC so if mine went through that you will be ok. Just give it nutes and don't over water because you are afraid to under water. To be honest you did lose time but if you really baby your baby she will give you some good smoke no matter what the goal is to get it her to harvest. I will be following this. Good Luck..Peace and good vibes. Here is a pic of mine at day 10 just as a comparison ,grown in Happy Frog soil.
Thanks for the replies lots of useful info! Sorry for the late reply. Went out of town for like 4 or 5 days. My girl decided while I was gone that my suggestion of watering twice was too much and only watered them,every other day. Needless to say they were dry but look better. Now they have my undivided attention.
I'm a newbie myself and feel the same way ^_^ I just checked my grow log and for the first few months, I watered every 4th or 5th day. The way I determined when it was time to water was by sticking my finger in the soil, and also the lift test. The pot is considerably lighter when there's no water in the soil. From everything I've read so far on growing, drenching the soil and then waiting till it's dry is the best method.
Yeah I'm in a coco perlite mix I have to water 2 to 3 times a day haha. 24 hours and they're getting dry. They're growing crazy fast now though hope it means the roots are doing ok.
im using coco and pearlite, i just deleted the pics off my phone, but i have a thread in "plant problems" forum which has two photos, its not looking good to say the least I think lol
sweet bro thanks, any help appreciated haha, don't wanna hijack your thread though so if you've anymore tips etc just leave it on my one haha, dont want to jinx u with my neg vibes xD bt to answer that question I soaked the pots before germ, since then just a spoonful of water every so often cause parts of the soil still wet.
I think today is actually day 20. So far behind :/ I'm afraid they'll flour smaller than they would have. At least this strain is know for yield. Not expecting more than an Oz per plant if that just because I know how autos can be.