I’m based in the subtropics of the southern hemisphere and bought three strains a couple of months ago - White Widow autoflowering, Girl Scout Cookies Extreme (fem) & RB Gold Leaf (fem).
I germinated them in a sheltered sunny spot during in our winter (August) at sea level & got 37 out of 40. The Gold Leaf & White Widow developed really nicely, but the Girl Scout have been really, really slow and are looking very stunted - maybe 4 inches tall.
They’ve been in small to medium pots with good quality potting mix. I’m about ready to plant them out. I moved them from sea level to my growsite, which is at 800m altitude. The White Widow autoflowering were just starting to flower when I moved them & I thought that maybe I had held them in pots too long but as they were all about 18-24 inches I wasn’t too worried. Since moving them though, all the other plants have started to pre-flower, including some girl scout that are only 4 inches tall. We get roughly 14 hours daylight at the moment. and temperatures are a bit variable - we’ve just had a cool wet spell with almost constant cloud cover / rain for a week or two.
So… Does anybody have a good idea what might be causing the issue (altitude / temperature shock from the move / extended cool wet period / something else entirely) and - more importantly - what I should do from this point to get the best possible harvest?
I was considering pinching out the flowering tips as that usually works wonders with some culinary herbs going to flower - is that a bad idea with marijuana?
I wouldnt recommend it with autos. They flower on their own and any attempt to manipulate it may result in deminished yield and the photos will go back to veg if you have over 14 hrs of light
You don’t say what your light period is (and at least some are autoflowers anyway), but those pots aren’t anywhere near big enough.
Autos need at least a 3 gallon pot, photoperiods a 5 gallon minimum.
It also looks like you’ve got a lack of light and nutrients happening. Possibly some overwatering happening.
I’d suggest using the search function, finding the “Support Ticket”, filling it out and posting it back here. You’ve got a lot of effort into those plants. Some tweaks to your operation will vastly improve your results.
Definitely overwatering - we had 6 inches of rain over the last couple of weeks & the plants are outside. We’re getting 14 hours of daylight at this latitude right now & they get full sun - at least,when there is any
They’re the pots I sowed them in - waiting a break in the weather to get them planted out in the ground. I think you’re right, though, the soil in the pots is probably spent now. They should have been in the ground a couple of weeks ago. They’re going in with lots of compost & dynamic lifter plus some seaweed mulch - I’m not really into the synthetic stuff as a rule, although these little guys would probably be happier right now if I was. Still, it should get the nutrient issue sorted soon & hopefully that will help
Do you reckon that the non autoflowering will go back to the veg/growth stage?
I agree with everyone else- overwatering, poor drainage and too small of containers which probably caused root bound issues (both contributing to stunted growth). If you can, get them out of plastic potters and get them in fabric grow bags. I had same issue with my very first ever grow earlier this year, that is why I recommend grow bags. And grow bags allow roots to air prune, preventing root bound problems.
Sorry, 1 more edit- I also live in the sub tropics but in the Northern Hemi, my summers range from 85-100° with humidity ranging from 40-100% with 70° being average. I dont know what would be in conversion.
@Tray- yes and no…after transplanting 1 of my Lowryder girls perished and the others were severely stunted. The remaining 4 only got to about 12" at most and at harvest I got about 1.5 zips for all 4.
Grow what you got now, use it as a learning experience for next grow.
5- 7 gal fabrics bags was like 9.00 on Amazon Prime. Best decision EVER!! I also mixed my dirt (organic and fertilizer free) 50/50 with perlite for good drainage. I think next grow I will go with a 40/60 or even 30/70 as the water went through too fast. After only 1/2 gal water, I was already getting run off.
