Seeds = Grand Daddy Purple (Auto)
Soil = 75% Fox Farm Happy Frog 25% Coco Coir
Tent = 2 X 2 X 4
Light = Sunraise 1000W (165W actual) set at about 14" above the top of the plant. Schedule is 18/6. The light has only been in place for about 3 days. Before that, I was just using two 20W CFL’s combined with a 5000 degree color small (75W) LED strip light.
Using a humidifier to keep humidity levels around 70% and temp between 75 - 78 deg. F
Germinated on 7/12 (today is 23 days above the ground)
Throughout this girls short life, she has been short and bushy. In fact, the stem has been barely strong enough to hold up her leaves. She is so fat that today I staked her.
Today, also was her first real feeding. I gave her 1/2 gallon of distilled water (10-15% runoff) with 1 teaspoon of Grow Big. Ph was 6 exactly and the TDS was 1970. That TDS seems very high but it might just be that this is really the first time that I have provided enough water that I got some runoff. If I am wrong here, please someone correct me.
Researching this forum (couldn’t do this without this forum), I did not find anyone else really struggling with a short and bushy plant at this age. Most have tall skinny ones? I don’t know if that is good or bad to be honest.
It’s not bad at all. Fox farms soils are pretty loaded. If you were in ocean forest you’d see 3000+. Not all those ppms are available to the plant right yet and that’s why it’s not fried. It takes time to break down into available nutes.
Your humidity is pretty spot on. I’d leave it there. You could drop to mid 60’s to hit your max vpd at your stage of growth. But I’d just leave it at 70 since that’s where you’re at already.
That’s what I was thinking but nice to have someone confirm it. From what I read, the TDS from the soil will deplete over time, thus the need for added nutrients.
The grow guide states that 50% is the ideal humidity but even this dumb ass knows that RH is temperature dependent so not sure about the grow guide recommendation. I will keep this chart as this make sense to me that the RH would need to change with the stages of the plant growth.
Also on the picture, you can see that she got her first top.
Additionally, my humidifier died and I had to buy another one. Coincidentally, the weather has been very dry. For the past few days, the RH in the tent has been 35 - 40%. I just added the new humidifier today and now RH is back above 50%.
I am not sure if the dryness has anything to do with the top leaves shriveling up. Anyone care to comment on this? Thanks in advance for your help!
This is not what I expected when I started this grow. I did not fill the pot up all of the way as I expected that it would grow a bit taller than it has. My grow tent is only 4’ tall so I thought I would save a few inches of height. I have never seen a pot plant so short and bushy. I did do some fimming and it worked out (I suppose) as this girl has a large number of nodes. I am going to install a scrog net tomorrow. I assume that it doesn’t matter being an autoflower but I plan to move to 12/12 on day 42 or maybe sooner depending on the flowering. I am now watering every other day and she is drinking it in. Some of the leaves below are turning under so I am hoping the net helps to spread her out a little so more light can get to them. This plant is growing so much everyday so I think it has to be pretty healthy to grow that fast. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks!
Today, we installed the net for scrogging (not sure of the correct grammar usage, is it scroging or scrogging?). The smallest net that I could find is still giant for my little 2 X 2 X 4 tent. To make it work, we doubled it over so it goes over the plant twice. Tried to do this kindly so as not to stress the bud sites too much.
We also raised the LED up. This provides much more space in the tent for upward growth once she starts to stretch. The new light levels (PPFD) with this Sunraise 1000 (really 165w) LED plus the 75w sidelights is 1150 measured at the top of the plant. We plan to go another week at 18/6 before backing off to 12/12.
For those newbies like me who are in the first grow (or preparing for it), are on a budget, and only are growing a small amount (I probably only smoke 1/2 oz. a year at best), this setup is working pretty well. I only spent around $250 and if everything goes well, I will have plenty of smoke. We are far from the finish line and are well aware that the plant could die tomorrow but so far so good. As a scientist in my day job, I have found this activity to be very interesting as there is so much to learn.
There is no way that I am doing this without this forum. I read several hours a day from the experts. Thanks to all who post often and share their insights.
Maybe over fed this weekend. I also might have accidentally poured the water directly on some of the leaves. See leaves with brown spots on them. Will flush next watering, probably Tuesday or Wednesday. The plant is just in an unbelievable growth spurt right now. With this much growth, it’s hard to imagine that anything significant is going on with her.
