Top: Tahoe OG @ 8 days Bottom: GMO Cookies 8 days (My Zkittlez was growing tremendously slow so i am in the process of replacing it.) my spreadsheet: 20230901_083507 by Zambroni posted Sep 1, 2023 at 8:40 AM Hello everyone, like I'm sure many others have, I found this site as I'm conducting my first grow ever and it's indoors. I've done a considerable initial investment buying supplies and will talk about that further in the reading. For now I want to talk about my strategy for the grow, mistakes I've already made. We are going to have a short grow the first time around. The thought process is that the shorter a period a plant is alive, the less time I'm given to cause catastrophic damage. However the seeds are all autoflower so they're gunna do their thing. I think we will need to crop, top/FIM the plants in hopes to gain yield but mostly to keep the plants shorter (not much verticle room in the tent.) My biggest mistakes so far is not slurry tested nor pH'd the seedbank's soil prior to planting germinated seeds. Which bringa me to my next biggest mistake, I'm growing 3 different plants, my roommate is growng 2 so together 5 plants in a place vivosun says 2... oops and speaking of plants, i am growing Zkittlez, Tahoe OG, and GMO cookies. My buddy is growing LSD Runtz and Cat Piss Cookies I think. •Vivosun 48x24x60 premium smart grow tent kit (comes with 2x 100w integrated aero lights, 4"inline fan, carbon filter, duct work etc...) •Starter soil from a local seedbank •Fox Farm Ocean Forrest soil •Hana pH meter (red), & 1x roll litmus •BlueLabs ppm meter •1x2000ml graduated pitcher •Graduated shot glass •Pipettes •Nectar For the Gods Roman Regimen •NFTG Laminated grow guides (complete sets) •NFTG Apollo Rise •NFTG Plutos Peak •1x Cultured Biologix EZ Tea Veg, 1x Bloom SLF-100 *Might be some other stuff but that's the bulk Lastly before I get into anything else, I do want to mention that there's a lot of info online, but it's not easy, concise, or thorough to find a detailed nftg grow diary online to compare results to so I also re-fabricated an excel spreadsheet on top so people can follow along and learn alongside with me. Please note it's my first ever excel sheet so I might be missing some needed data columns. I will post the spreadsheet throughout the posts of this grow, refer to it for nutrients, ppms, pHs, and other things.
Hello @Zambroni I notice that your seedlings are stretching. This happens when there's not enough light. You may benefit from getting a tool to measure the amount of light the plants are receiving. Myself, I just use a Dr.Lux meter and typically start at 20,000 lux at the canopy. This assures me that the plants don't stretch. A better way to measure light (from LEDs) is to use a quantum meter, but these cost a lot more ($40 for a lux meter vs $150+ for a quantum meter). When it comes time to transplant, bury the elongated stalk in the soil. I sometimes scratch the epidermis and apply some rooting gel (with my fingers). This will help the buried stem to root out earlier. Also, a slurry test is nice, but you can also collect runoff and test it. Consider monitoring runoff (ie. excess solution that drains out the bottom) throughout the grow. Otherwise, good on you. You seem to have an analytical mind, so growing may come easily to you, unless you maybe over-analyze... like me nevertheless, welcome to the forums.
and when or if you carry on with the seedling ,when you fill the cup up with the starter soil what you are using ,when you water it dont water right up to the stem i'd just use just a little around the stem ..if yu get the soil to wet the stem may get stem rot .so be careful when watering around the stem luck with your grow .....mac.
Thank you, I was wondering why that is. the grow tent is being taken up by a mad experiment im not sure how is living yet. But they need light for sure because right now one is looking really bad. I do that as well, admittedly I'm going at this fairly blind (for modern times) an anything I can't find I've been finding what seems to be better info than I can find most things on an open AI source that seems to do a damn fine job in certain areas in example: it's ability to help me understand product line of nftg. But human's still going to know best. Then there are other things that I'm still confused about but grasping. Sounds like with nftg, the soil ppm needs to be around 300-500 ppm (preferably 400+) But I'm also being told ppm needs to be around 1000-1500ppm (preferably 1000-1200). I assume the bigger number is for the feed/tea/flush im doing for that day. but Id imagine that's clog up the soil right quick due to the high ppm of the feed, or is that high to give the microbes food to eat until the next feeding?
Welcome to GC @Zambroni. Auto-flowers are best started in the pots they will finish flowering in. They do NOT do well with transplanting as any root damage during transplant will stall their growth. As the others have mentioned move your light closer, fill soil to the top of your cups and water to the outside edge of your cups. If the roots search for water they will develop faster. I'd also suggest some air movement to thicken the stems of your seedling. A small fan will do the job. Because you already started those auto-flowers in cups. I've found that 11-12 days is when I've had the best results with transplanting them up to their final pots if started in 16 ounce solo cups. Make a depression in your final pot using the same cups that you used to start your seedling. Water around that cup shape so it doesn't collapse in on itself. Very carefully slip your seedling into the hole made by the cup. That will limit the damage from your transplanting.
you won't clog up anything, but you may end up burning a plant. I rarely use the recommended numbers provided by nutrient companies. I would keep those numbers very low, and at the stage your plants are (ie. seedlings) I wouldn't add anything except maybe a little calcium/magnesium (if even).
Thank you for the input. The information I've gained has helped tremendously to prepare for my next grow. I had no idea about the autos and transplanting. I would have chosen a different medium to start with other than a soil that sounds like its too hot for seedlings.
Absolutely. I'm starting notes out much lower than reccomended by the regimen ( 1-x ml/16.9oz bottle vs reccomended dosage of 10-30 ml/gal. Please note I am coming up with the feed dosage by dividing 1 gallon (128oz) by 16.9oz bottle= 7.57, so I do the same for the notes and even then it's on the conservative side but every feeding I'll add .5-1ml a feeding until I start seeing signs I should back off (as reccomended by NFTG video by ocgfam on youtube. I feel to should have some form of adherence to the reccomended regimen and do a tea next. But I don't have a root tea so I figure at the very least a watering with Athena's Aminas, slf-100 and hygeia hydration sounds like it shouldn't hurt, then again sometimes I forget which side my rear-end is on.
Papa Puffs Magical Garden I think you should follow and as Papa how he works his. He is a good member... one of my growbros
Thank you. I've seen many people ask Papa about things through doing my own research. I dont want to be one of those new growers needing to rely on others or burdening them with questions they've probably answered 1000 times.
Week two is coming to a close. The Tahoe OG got pulled and the Zkittlez got a replacement that broke ground a week ago. Seems like some slow growth compared to other grows. This may just be genetics because the plants are still looking healthy. Time will tell. The temperature, rh, and vpd are all stabilized in the tent now so I'm excited about that. Transplanting autos seems to be finicky so as of right now I'm not planning to transplant and deal with the solo cups as is. I did however find a Grow Science seed in some bud I picked up so I will definitely be in a 2 gallon felt pot that's getting shipped to me. Blue is Zkittlez -mine Pink is GMO Cookies -mine 5 gallon pot is LSD Runtz -Roommate's What I'll call the undesignated seedling is Cat Piss Cookies -roommate's And the clone is idk -roommate's Although only two of these plants are mine I'm still taking care of all of them.
Oh my emeralds Gator! I can tell we have the same genetics Awesome grow, how long have you been using nectar? This is my first time growing cannabis and yeah, I rebelled against NFTG reccomendations and bought Roman Regimen. I feel like I'm starting to grasp the general concepts but a long fricken way from knowing a spec of dirt from air with this line. I do have questions but I really hate to bother asking people or bothering them it just seems disrespectful to not take into account that said person has probably answered the same questions to the point of insanity. By the way I'm writing, you're probably thinking that about me and I'm questioning it too now......anyway.... Side question; is this post in the right place? This post doesn't even show up on my own profile (accidentally double posted and it got deleted so I'm not sure what's up). But I'll keep posting here I guess. Thank you for stopping by friend. I hope to keep seeing you around.
I've been using the nectar line for a couple years,papa puff turned me on to it.any questions can be posted here or you can send me a p.m.
Btw, you can transplant auto flowers, just be careful with the roots,cut the solo cup with scissors when they are about 6-8 inches tall
And don't be afraid to feed at full strength, nectar isn't a salt based fertilizer, it's calcium based, you're girls will love it,and they'll just keep wanting more
For the solo cups I'm having to divide millimeters since NFTG uses a gallon for their scale, I'm using a 16.9fl Oz water bottle with holes punched in the cap. Anyways even at trying to divide 5ml by 7 (128÷16.9= about 7.5 so I round down to 7). My ppm is up to 1500+ and from what I gather is the feed should be around 300-500. So I heavily dilute with more distilled water. Seems like no matter what I'm going to be wasting either nutrients or distilled water I guess? But all this may be futile now because as I'm writing this I was careless, forgot they were at my feet and knocked the gmo cookies and the zkittlez over. I put the knocked out soil back in but it wasn't good.