From a fellow grower: past 3 tries from 3 other banks-not ILGM- were all tiny 4" to 14" maximum with almost no yield. I have wasted too much money to continue failing. I have mars hydro 600 ts led lights at 18 hours on, good soil mixed with peat moss for drainage, water sensibly, yet still small plants. I tried coffee grounds as a nutrient additive.
There have always been about 12 plants at a time, first wilted in hot attic and next in main house with natural light, next i bought 2 mars hydro ts 600 lights at about 30" height on 18 hours. Always have been using great value purified water, careful to not give too much or too little. I had 2 ph guages but they did not seem accurate, i think the ph was around 6.5. Typical double pails, with inner one drilled a dozen 1/16" holes in bottom. Temps now always between 70 and 80. and humidity around 34 to 37. Our home has a neverending problem with high levels of CO2 of 800 to 1100 PPM and i have not found a permanent ventilation solution, despite installing a basement air evacuation system and dehumidifyer down there it stays at 83% HUMIDITY, and did not help solve co2 issues. Past attempts i bought happy frog dirt on top of coco, and even used fish shit fertilizer that did not work and they had tiny flying bugs infested, so i dumped all outside and tried again now with Sphagnum peat moss base and Burpee Organic Growing Mix soil. Only just saw one of those small black winged spider walking type insects so i dont think thats a problem yet. These 2 pictures are of 12 autoflower of all different strains like kryptonite, amnesia gold, white widow, super hash, tutankamon, and galaxy. Always no matter the seeds, even though germinate well, always stunt at a few inches. I am just soooo tired inside myself after such promise of ease with growing AUTO and the extreme cost of the seeds i bought for all these tries, that it almost seems hopeless, but i of course never give up and will somehow overcome this growing nightmare somehow hopefully with your guidance. Oh, i have a small fan in the room too. No nutrients, because i cant find ones that help, other than coffee grounds, but i was going to try opening fresh tea bags and sprinkling it on top of the soil ? The plants in these pictures are at almost 6 weeks. That was a month ago on April 29, and they still look almost exactly the same, and some are flowering. It is just a total loss all over repeating, no matter what i do different.
So are you looking for help on these plants or the next attempt?
If it’s your next attempt, I’d be more than happy to spell out exactly how to go about it. I’m not sure how to recover from the photo above so I’ll let others help you out there.
I will say that the light you have is only pulling 100 actual watts from the outlet. I don’t believe this is going to be enough power for 2 plants, let alone 12.
For next grow:
First, add THIS into your empty pot. Then add FF HF filling 3/4 to half of the pot. Mix these two well. Fill the rest of the pot with just Fox Farm Happy Frog soil. This combination is going to give your plants enough food and nutrients for it’s life. You shouldn’t need to add anything special. Just PH’d water at 6.5.
Maybe you were just about to water, but from your pics, all of those plants need water. I water when the top soil (to about an inch down) become dry.
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I say trash those. If your doing 12 ypur going to need bigger lights for sure. A couple 600w- 1000w mh/ hps will be the cheaper route. And screw those autoflowers. Your just starting out don’t even bother with sutoflowers until you know what your doing because they are on a timer. If u want succes I would say to scale back to a more manageable plant count, get photo periods, and easy strain and a decent nutrient line. Once you get all that then start a thread and everyone can help you out. The lights u have right now will not cut it as stated above.
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And just get plant saucers if u water with that double bucket system its going to keep the water in and not drain properly. Trash it all and start out eight. With PHOTOPERIODS not autos. Photos give you more leeway when you stunt them and make mistakes. And start ypur seedlings off in solo cups with a few holes cut in the bottom. Way easier to manage then tiny seedlings in big pots
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My suggestion is to do something with proven results. Dump the home made soil mixtures and go with a cannabis friendly soil like Fox Farms soils. Do a search using the Fox Farms dealer locator to find a local source of soil. You might also find a local source of support. Happy Frog soil is a good starter choice.
Start the plants in small pots or cups and transplant as soon as the leaves extend beyond the sides of the pot or cup.
The only thing you can screw up is over/under watering and inadequate light.
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I suggest only starting them in smaller cups if they are photoperiod plants. Auto’s don’t like to be transplanted. (this is what I’ve read/have been told. Not sure if it’s true)
19 got them ready to go outside and only kept 6 for inside. And thats under a 1000w mh hps light.
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I suggested for him to use photos.Autos u can go right into the forever home. Or 3 gallon pot to the final pot as long as you don’t shock them. I dont like autoflowers si.ply for the fact that they flower when they want to not when you want them too. Flowering a few weeks earlier isn’t a big deal for me cuz im in no rush. People see autoflower and think they are easier to grow when in fact they are harder to grow when your just starting out because you’re going to make those mistakes. Overwatering,underwatering,nuteburn, underlining, ph and ppm, deficiencies and overabundance. It all stunts the plants and they turn to crap and flower when they are 4 inches tall.
All very true. I believe the light change necessary with photos confuses n00bies. That’s why autos are recommended for beginners. Just my two cents 
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True. I mean its not that hard to change your timer from 18/6 to 12/12 so I dont know why they recommend them to beginners. Its stupid. The only people that have success with autos is expericed growers who do perpetual grows. I see so many new people with autoflowers and they have nothing but problems.then it flowers and they get pissed. If they had a photo they could correct the problem and it could recover.
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I only do autos because I’m worried about light getting into the tent during the dark period. My tents have too many small pin holes. Not to mention the LEDs on the fans I have in there, etc. That’s what scares me off. I don’t want hermes lol
Those tiny pin holes dont do shit. I’m tellin ya. U can cover any lights in there with electrical tape but light leaks are crap. Unless its a big flap and u have a bright light. Little pin holes arnt going to bother them. Plants out in the wild are subject to 100 percent dark. The moon bounces light from the sun off of it, and street lights. Never had a problem. Plus ypu can top photos multiple times and increase your yeild and grow bigger plants with photos and have massive yeild. With autos you get what you get. Get some photos u won’t be sorry.
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Oh no shit? Wow, that’s really good to know. Really appreciate the advice! I’d love to do photos but that was my main concern. Thanks brother!
I always yell at my wife to turn off the basement lights (above the tents) when she goes to bed because I was worried about light getting in. Even with autos haha
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As long as your tent isn’t in a dark cycle and in yur living room with all the lights on and your exausr flaps open you’ll be fine if your lights are off and your rooms lights are off you’ll have no problems. People tent to go overboard with it. Pinholes is no big deal.
Stand in the tent and zip it up and have your lights in your basement on. Test it out
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Really good info. I appreciate it a lot. I will do just that. I know that when I turn my lights off in the basement, I can barely see any light coming through from inside the tents. Just a few pin holes, like I mentioned. I want fat dense buds, not this fluffy shit I’ve had with autos since I started.
Density comes from your light source and distance from the plants. And what your feeding it. It also helps to trim up the bottom sucker buds and the plant focuses its energy to the top buds and makes them more dense. But with autos you never know if your going to stunt it when you trim them up. I top my plants and sxrog them and take off the bottom stems that you don’t get anything off of and you end up with dense buds all getting even light over the canopy
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Granted, I had a weaker light and probably harvested too soon (this was my first grow) but this was the result. Smells like grass, tastes terrible, super disappointed.
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Yeah looks super airy. You deff need a better light and or put it closer and take off all the bottom sucker buds. Pruning the bottom off regularly is great for redirecting energy where you want it to go. Get photos and try again. Screw autos. You can top and scrog and get big yeilds. I dont have very many photos but you can check out my journal and you can look at @Hellraiser journals too.
Appreciate the tips, thank you. Yeah, I had it under an SF-1000 light. Only pulling 130w from the wall. I have a 300w from the wall light in the flowering tent now. As soon as I run out of auto seeds, I’m switching to photos
