I transferred my 4 seedlings to plastic cups on May 6 as I got my grow tent ready. I let them grow in my window sill for a while. It took me a couple of weeks for my grow tent to be ready. On Friday May 19 I transplanted the 4 plants to larger plastic containers then to my grow tent. It’s been around 2 1/2 days now since I transferred them to the larger containers & into the tent. Since that time the plants are still very small & the daily growth has been very little. Maybe the plants are still in shock from the transfer to the larger containers. I am using nutrients & watering the plants. They are WW & Lowryder autos which are kinda small plants but these are really small for their age as they sprouted around 2 1/2 weeks ago. They vary in height from 3-6" tall & the leaves are small & there are not many leaves at all. Is this normal? When do they start to grow? This can’t be right.
Is it because I waited a couple of weeks to put them in my new grow tent?
I have a 39" X 39" tent with a Diamond XML 150 light in it. I had the light around 32" or so from the top of the plants then I lowered it to around 26".
Should my light be closer?
I have two fans located at the top of the tent. Should I have them blowing directly on the plants?
Im still very much a noob so wait for a veteran to confirm, but transplanting autos isnt the best idea. Ive been told to put them right into their forever homes because their roots dig and spread faster than photos. You and i started a couple of days apart i started my bag seeds may 2nd they look like this.
Thanks for your reply! Actually, I placed my seeds in a cup of water to germinate them on May 2 so we may have started the same day.
I never heard that before about starting autos in one container & never transplanting them. You may be correct about that. I’ve just never heard of it before.
Your pictures are encouraging to me because my plants look similar in size to yours. Maybe my plants are doing better then I thought.
My Northern lights autos from ILGM stayed very small until about week 3. Then they kind of exploded with side branching in just a few days. I think autos just start out slow then have bursts of growth later. I would expect your autos to do something similar.
They say it’s best to start and finish and auto in the same pot so you don’t stress it out but I’ve always transplanted mind never had any issues can’t say I recommend it but I do transplant line and have not had any issues thus far I hope that helps happy growing
The key in transplanting is to not put them into a pot that could fit a 3 ft tall plant. You wanna keep em small for optimum speed of growth. Now problems lie within that. Some involve the roots could grow to large for the container just look to see how long them roots are if u can if not just take your time
Since I first posted this question all 4 of my plants have grown quite a bit. It’s rather surprising how much they have grown in that short period of time. They are taller & much wider with more leaves. The leaves have grown pretty big as well. Also, they have begun to smell now, a sweet smell indeed!
I was afraid these autoflowers would begin the flowering stage while they were still very small. It’s been over 3 1/2 weeks since they first sprouted from seed so I would think they should be entering the flowering stage soon. After 5 weeks if they haven’t begun flowering I’m going to switch from my current 18/6 lighting schedule to a 12/12 schedule to hopefully get them to enter the flowering stage.
This is my first indoor grow so I’m proud of myself as all seems to be going pretty well at this point.
My autos didn’t even show pre-flowers until nearly week 5. If your still worried about them being to small then I wouldn’t try to force them into flowering. More time in veg = bigger plant = higher yield! Also, changing to 12/12 means your losing out on 6 hours of precious light a day which will decrease the quality of your bud. Keeping on 18/6 their whole life is, in my opinion, the best way to utilize the autoflower trait.
Your auto will end up flowering whatever it wants to regardless of what lifecycle you put it on but it is a very good idea to have it on the 18 6 and allow it to rest I’ve also grown them on 12 12 and they still do awesome they were flower when we’re ready !! You got this. Tag me if there’s anything I can help you with
HCHGC, the only reason why I was considering eventually switching to 12/12 after 5 weeks was because I read somewhere that some autos may NEVER go to the flowering stage unless they are “forced” to do so with 12/12. If that is untrue then I’ll take your advice & leave them permanently on 18/6.
What are your thoughts on what I read? Is it true?
