Another newbie- small plants - so many questions

Grow Support A Pot for Pot
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I have a few plants, Blueberry Auto, Bubblegum auto and a Gold Leaf fem. The plan is to grow in pots and move outside, I am in southern MA and our traditionally our frost date is Memorial day weekend, but if I google it I am looking at the last week in April. Granted I have trust issues. lol

I started one of each at the end of march (28thish) inside and put the cracked seeds into peat pots with Coast of Maine seedling soil. Don’t know my water PH (need to calibrate the ph pen) so I am using spring water now. Basic lighting was a florescent light and a seedling/grow screw-in light.
I started 2 more in solo cups (holes in bottom) same medium on April 5th. They are currently the same size as my ones from late march.

I have been reading… holy moly there is a lot of information on here. My plants are tiny in comparison to you-alls plants. The first thing I noticed was my goldleaf starter leaves were getting yellow, so I used some of the seedling fertilizer from ILGM… that greened those up. The BG and BB never really saw that issue. I was concerned about over watering so I used a spray bottle and when the soil was dryish I sprayed around the outside of the plant.

When the days are nice and sunny I move these plants to my greenhouse (not heated so they can’t stay over night yet) and have a gentle fan (large computer case fan) blowing or outside in direct sunlight. When its crappy, like today, I keep them inside and they have my crappy lights.

I moved the first plants on Sunday to their 7 gal pots thinking their lack of growth issue was due to lack of nutrients. They are now in fabric pots with Ocean forest and Happy frog in an out to in layer. Happy Frog (both with supplemental perlite) is closer to the little babies. Sunday and Monday we had wonderful sun and they were outside. They came in at night got some more light and then went to bed.

Just wondering why they are so tiny still… like they are just existing at this size. When they are out in the sun its not super warm, high 50s to 60s. Humidity in my house is horrible… heat is forced hot air. So if I can maintain 40+ I am doing well, unless its raining. Do I need better lights for when they are inside? Too much water? Too little water?

When you guys talk run off and measuring… are you watering enough that water comes out the bottom of the pot? Should I be watering that way and then not watering at all until fully dry?

I might want to try an indoor grow later. I would like to get through an outside grow first. With that said I am willing to invest in a good light, even if its to hang it in the greenhouse.

Also, I read fill the cup… after I didn’t fill the cup. Ooopsie. :open_mouth:

Since putting them in the 7gal it dawned on me, cats… had to deter the cats. Hence my part of greenhouse plastic to keep them out of the pots. :crazy_face:

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Thoughts? Guidance? Just know… I am curious about everything, but can go down a rabbit hole… One of the things I have noticed about the forum is how nice you all are.
Thanks in advance!

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Lost a picture there, so here it is.

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I just bought one of those Pro Zep bottles from Lowes and am blown away that you can use them upside down lol!! Not sure about industry wide standards but that was a first for me. Wry helpful.

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Welcome to the community. So few things right now you don’t need to worry about water tell run off. That comes later. If you plan to move them outside soon then depending on your soil you will need to water to run off, and yes you are correct, you slowly pour water on top and let it come out the bottom. You will also need to get a ph pen, and a TDS meter. Or ppm meter same thing. Depending on soil is when you will need to start checking your ppm to know when you need to start feeding.
More then importantly when they are young you need to keep a good environment, high humidity 80 and up if possible. And very little water. They get the water from leaves while they are Establishing their roots

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If you’re not planning to feed the bottled nutrients, you don’t need to water to runoff. Doing so will deplete your soil faster. I’d strongly consider feeding the soil organically if they’re going outside.

If you want better growth speed you’ll need to get em into better growth conditions in terms of temp and RH.

For the autos, you will want to correct that, or you will only end up with enough weed for a pinner joint. They’re on a clock, usually after some number of days they flower automatically. If your plant continues at this rate it will probably grow you 1 tiny bud.

The photoperiod is probably ok to continue as is unless you want a monster. One thing to consider before it reaches maturity however, is the number of daylight hours it’s getting. Once the plant is mature, any amount around 14 or lower will send it into flower. But it won’t be able to finish with the days getting longer - it will begin to “re-veg”.

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Thanks guys. I appreciate the feedback.
Recap:. No run off with the fox farm soil - correct? I would essentially be rinsing the nutrients out.

I need to work on my humidity, temp and what is RH?

Get a TDS meter.

When you say feeding organically, what do you mean? Good soil like compost, worm castings etc?
I get your point on the autos being on a timer, I didn’t think about that but makes total sense.

Re-veg, does that mean I should not start my photo this early? I have more seeds so I can start one later if that’s what I should be doing.

Many Thanks… :slight_smile:

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Yes, and organic fertilizers: bone meal, kelp meal, oyster shells, feather meal, bat guano etc. You can get these ingredients in a blend, Down to Earth makes a 4-8-4 “rose and flower” that I’ve used successfully on my weed and veggies as well.

RH is relative humidity. For seedlings and early veg, you want temps in the 80s and RH in the 60’s for the fastest growth. I actually run a bit below that normally and have decent growth. But where you’re at is going to be really slow.

Re-veg is when the plant converts from flowering back to vegetation growth. It takes some time for it to make the shift, like a month or two. You wont want to lose that prime growing time. But all that’s needed is to make sure they stay over 14 hours, get them under your light.

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OK, got it. I will get some of those little temp/humidity readers I can stick in each pot and give them domes/cloche. Then I will also get the timer set on the lights so they are 14+ hours a day until I can get them outside safely all the time.
I will also get a supply of the organic fertilizers… I have bone meal.
I can totally see why there are so many indoor growers now. :smiley:

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Be careful bringing your girls in and out. You don’t want to hassle with pests
Thay is not good. Welcome to your new happy place :blush:

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